まま
 

what is the meaning of this? Just can't understand...

think its the slang word used for trying to calm people down but I'm not 100% sure

Well it can mean many things.
It's kind of hard to translate but まま basically means "as" or "as it is" or "as one likes" or "the way it is" or "leave as is" or "because". It can mean any of those things depending on how it is used.

when it is "このまま/kono mama" it means "this way" or "this way it is"
when it is "そのまま/sono mama" it means "that way" or "that way it is"

here are some examples
this if from a song
"あなたと二人で このまま消えてしまおう / Anata to futari de kono mama kiete shimaou" which means
"If I stay this way with you we will completely disappear"

another example
this is from another song
"君とは いつか お別れをする気づけないままに/Kimi to wa itsuka owakare wo suru kizukenai mama ni"
"Someday when we separate we won't be able to realize it is this way"

EDIT

I have also heard it with adjectives. For example
綺麗なまま.../Kirei na mama..." which I translate as "Pretty as it is" or "Still is pretty"

Another example with adjectives
難しいままに/Muzukashii mama ni" which is "Difficult as is" or "Still is difficult"

Anyway there are an endless number of sentences you can make with "まま" and like I said, it depends on how it is used it means many things. I hope I helped. If you hear it enough in movies or songs or anything you will eventually pick up on it. Good luck!

You're thinking of something like まぁ〜まぁ〜.

ahhh right, thanks very much ^__^ was wondering where I went wrong

Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar defines まま as 'An already given state or condition remains unaltered.'

I think the example that first comes to my mind when I think of まま is 電気をつけたまま寝てしまいました。 (From the same book) It's translated as 'I fell asleep leaving the lights on.' The part we're interested in is 電気をつけたまま. So here 電気をつける　is 'Turn on the lights', and 電気をつけた is 'Turned on the lights'. So taking the technical definition, adding まま to 電気をつけたまま means 'I turned off the lights [and this state remains unaltered]'.

Since I assume someone more talented than I will come along, I have two questions. Obviously the 自動詞 counterpart to 電気をつける is 電気がつく. Would it be natural to say 電気がついたまま寝てしまいました。? In this case I'm just trying to say that 'the lights were on' and not necessarily that I or anyone else turned them on. Also, in this case, would the が ->　の that happens often in relatively clauses (for example, 水がない would usually be said 水のないところ when it's a relative clause) happen in this instance. In short, would the phrasing change from 電気がついたまま to 電気のついたまま? A native or near-native opinion on that would be very appreciated. Also, to the OP, I hope I helped you a bit. If you don't already own it, I would definitely suggest picking up or at least taking a look at the 'Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar'. It's part of a 3-book collection that covers basic, intermediate, and advanced grammar patterns with explanations, related patterns, and lots of example sentences.

People use it for 'mom' as well sometimes. That'd be like ママ though when written.

If you don't already own it, I would definitely suggest picking up or at least taking a look at the 'Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar'. It's part of a 3-book collection that covers basic, intermediate, and advanced grammar patterns with explanations, related patterns, and lots of example sentences.[/quote]

Yes, I was thinking of buying it, but it costs a lot...
Thank you everyone for your help, I think I understand it better now xD

The dictionary is a very worthwhile investment. You don't even have to buy the other two right away, but I've never regretted buying my first one.

will do :3

I'd like to add that I have grown to hate language textbooks-- even still, that grammar book was great for me. What worked for me was reading through it (the whole thing... it's quite long) a couple-few times. At the time, I was in contact with a lot of study abroad students (who were from Japan) so the more I read that book, the more I was able to pick up what they were saying (although there was a TON of stuff that is used in spoken Japanese that this book doesn't cover). I even showed it to some friends and they were kind enough to go through it and show me which examples were the most natural. That was really helpful.

I have the second and third book in the series as well. To be honest, if you can understand most of what is in the first book (when you hear it from a native speaker, that is), you might not need the second or third book. I have looked at the second book a handful of times, and don't really recall ever looking at the third one besides the day I got it. The first one was truly a great investment though. (It's bright yellow, so it will always stand out on your bookshelf asking you to look over it if even for just 5 minutes).

ゎかりません　＾＾ I want to own one..