The family — for better or for worse, it’s one of the core units of the human condition. For most people, their family members are the people who raised them, changed their diapers, wiped away their tears (if they weren’t causing them), and witnessed them at their absolute best and worst moments. Whatever your relationship with your family, you can’t escape them; that’s why if you’re studying Spanish, learning to talk about your family in Spanish is an invaluable skill.
Perhaps you’re going to live with a host family in the Spanish-speaking world, or maybe you’re on a date with a native Spanish speaker and your conversation has made it past simple things like where you’re from and into the ins and outs of your personal lives. Keep reading to find out all the expressions you need to know to talk about family in Spanish.
The Spanish Family Tree
Let’s start with a look at the family tree, with a helpful diagram showing our relations. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, after all (though that phrase may be more apt for talking about Spanish fruits and vegetables).
Terms For Talking About Family In Spanish
When you’re talking about family in Spanish, one important note to remember is that Spanish is a gendered language, meaning each noun is classified as either male or female. When you’re talking about family relationships in Spanish, you’re talking about people, so figuring out which gender to use is very straightforward; your sister is female (la hermana), and your brother is male (el hermano), for example. But when you’re talking about a group of people that includes males, Spanish defaults to the male gender, even if there’s only one male in the entire group.
That means the word for “siblings” is los hermanos, unless the group of siblings is all female, in which case you’d use las hermanas. Same thing goes for los padres (“parents”), los hijos (“children”) and almost every other word on this list. It may be an antiquated linguistic rule that reinforces the patriarchy, but it’s the way Spanish speakers use their own language, so it’s worth remembering.
family — la familia
relatives — los parientes
immediate family — la familia directa
extended family — los parientes lejanos
mother — la madre
father — el padre
parents — los padres
sister — la hermana
brother — el hermano
siblings — los hermanos
daughter — la hija
son — el hijo
children — los hijos
grandmother — la abuela
grandfather — el abuelo
grandparents — los abuelos
granddaughter — la nieta
grandson — el nieto
grandchildren — los nietos
aunt — la tía
uncle — el tío
cousin (male) — el primo
cousin (female) — la prima
Is all this too easy for you? You might want to evaluate your Spanish level and tackle something more complicated. Maybe on the Babbel app?