Is the Viral Riddle About Teresa's Daughter Impossible To Solve? See What You Think

People love puzzles and riddles to really work out their brains and problem-solving skills. Puzzles and word games—like Wordle or Connections—can be such a great way to get your thinking muscles working while also having fun. And riddles can do that too—just sometimes in a more frustrating way. That’s the case with the viral Teresa’s Daughter riddle.

This riddle is small but mighty, stumping people online and causing some serious calculations among those who want to solve it. But is it impossible to solve? See for yourself with the “If Teresa’s Daughter…” riddle below. Don’t worry though; we have the answer and explanation for you too, in case you just want to get it over with.

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What Is the ‘If Teresa’s Daughter…” Riddle? Where Did It Come From?

The origins of this riddle aren’t really documented, but it has been online for a handful of years. A Quora post with this riddle has answers from seven years ago (about 2016 or so) and the site SimpleMost posted about it in 2017. And like any good riddle, it’s appeared on Twitter (now X) and other social media since.

So here it is:

<p>Canva/Parade</p>

Canva/Parade

If Teresa's daughter is my daughter's mother, what am I to Teresa?

  1. Grandmother

  2. Mother

  3. Daughter

  4. Granddaughter

  5. I’m Teresa

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Hints to Figure Out the Teresa’s Daughter Riddle

Okay, we want to give you time to figure it out yourself; we don’t want to just blurt out the answer in case you want to exercise your brain a little to figure it out.

A good way to try to figure this out is to either substitute your family members for Teresa and her daughter. Or you can even use visual tools like figurines, dolls or any visual placeholders for the characters in this riddle.

A hint we can give is that you need to really insert yourself into the answer key. Also, it’s not as complicated as you might think.

Okay! That’s it; SPOILERS AHEAD!

Related: 125 Brain Teasers for Kids (With Answers!)

‘If Teresa’s Daughter…’ Riddle Answer Reveal

Ready for the answer?

It’s C. Daughter.

Teresa’s Daughter Riddle Explained

In this riddle, you, the reader, are Teresa’s daughter; that's what you are to her. How? Well, if Teresa has a daughter who is also the mother to your daughter… you are Teresa’s daughter.

Let's break it down another way. Teresa is your daughter’s grandmother, which makes Teresa your mother and makes you the daughter of Teresa.

The tricky part is the multiple choice answers; you might have tried to figure it out as if you're an additional person to the riddle, when really you’re inserted into the riddle from the get-go.

“If Teresa’s daughter (YOU) is MY daughter’s mother, what am I to Teresa?” The answer is already there.

Obviously, the answers were all feminine, so if you’re not a woman answering this, you would just have to use your imagination. But sometimes this riddle pops up without a multiple choice answer key, and in that case—if you’re a guy—you’d answer that you’re Teresa’s son-in-law.

Did you enjoy that riddle? If you did, check out 101 other riddles for kids and adults (including the answers)