Lesson 07 · 6 min read
Spanish Family and Relationships Vocabulary
Family (la familia) is one of the first topics in any conversation. This lesson covers immediate and extended family, and shows how Spanish uses possessive words to say whose family member you mean.
1. Immediate family
Spanish uses the masculine plural to cover a mixed group, which produces some usefully compact words: "los padres" means the parents (not the fathers), "los hermanos" can mean the brothers or the siblings, and "los hijos" covers sons and daughters together. Context settles the ambiguity.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| la madre | mother |
| el padre | father |
| los padres | parents |
| el hijo | son |
| la hija | daughter |
| el hermano | brother |
| la hermana | sister |
| el esposo / marido | husband |
| la esposa / mujer | wife |
2. Extended family
The same pairing logic continues outwards: los abuelos are the grandparents, los tíos the aunts and uncles, los primos the cousins. In-laws take their own set of words — suegro, suegra, cuñado, cuñada — rather than being built from "in-law" the way English does it.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| el abuelo | grandfather |
| la abuela | grandmother |
| el tío | uncle |
| la tía | aunt |
| el primo | cousin (male) |
| la prima | cousin (female) |
| el sobrino | nephew |
| la sobrina | niece |
| el nieto | grandson |
| la nieta | granddaughter |
3. Talking about your family
Possession is expressed with "de" rather than an apostrophe: "la hermana de María" is María's sister. Possessive adjectives agree with the thing owned, not the owner, so it is "mis hermanos" for my brothers however many people are speaking.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Tengo dos hermanos. | I have two siblings. |
| Mi madre se llama Ana. | My mother is called Ana. |
| ¿Tienes hermanos? | Do you have siblings? |
| Vivo con mis padres. | I live with my parents. |
| Somos una familia grande. | We are a big family. |
4. Describing your family to someone
Family is the topic every Spanish course reaches first, because it is what strangers actually ask about. The frame you need is small: tener for who exists, ser for who they are, and llamarse for their names. Tengo dos hermanos, mi hermana se llama Ana, mi padre es médico. Spanish-speaking countries commonly use two surnames — the father's first, then the mother's — so María López García is Ms. López, not Ms. García. Getting this right matters when addressing someone formally, and it explains why forms often ask for apellido paterno and apellido materno separately.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ¿Tienes hermanos? | Do you have siblings? | ¿Tienes hermanos o eres hijo único? — Do you have siblings or are you an only child? |
| hijo único / hija única | only child | Soy hija única. — I'm an only child. |
| el apellido | surname | ¿Cuál es su apellido? — What's your surname? |
| mayor / menor | older / younger | Mi hermano mayor vive en Lima. — My older brother lives in Lima. |
| estar casado / soltero | to be married / single | Mi hermana está casada. — My sister is married. |
Common mistakes
la hermana de María's → la hermana de María
Spanish has no apostrophe-s. Possession is always built with de, running the opposite way round from English.
Mi padres son profesores → Mis padres son profesores
The possessive agrees with the thing owned, not the owner. Two parents means mis, however many people are speaking.
Tengo dos hermanas y un hermano, entonces tengo tres hermanas → …tengo tres hermanos
The masculine plural covers a mixed group. Hermanos here means siblings, not brothers — and los padres means the parents, not the fathers.