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The family in Spanish La familia en español
Hello! In this video we will learn some family members in Spanish by completing a family
tree using some pictures. We will show you how to create simple sentences about the family
in Spanish using the verbs SER and TENER and some adjectives. Let's begin ...
What are some common family members in Spanish? We use the phrase LOS MIEMBROS DE LA FAMILIA
for family members The first family members you must learn are
LOS PADRES (parents). For mother we use the word MADRE in a formal context and MAMÁ in
a more casual way. For father we use PADRE and PAPÁ. The mark over the vowel A is called
tilde and helps us identify where the stress goes in a word. In this case we must pronounce
PAPÁ not PAPA, which actually means potato in Spanish so be careful. If they were married
they would be ESPOSA (wife) and ESPOSO (husband).
Let´s review the pronunciation of these words. LOS PADRES, MADRE o MAMÁ, PADRE o PAPÁ,
ESPOSA y ESPOSO Couples often have children or as we would
say in Spanish, LOS PADRES TIENEN HIJOS. This family has UN HIJO (a son) and UNA HIJA (a
daughter). The relationship between LOS HIJOS is that of HERMANOS. HERMANOS is how we say
siblings in Spanish. For brother we say HERMANO and for sister we say HERMANA. Another common
word for children in Spanish is niños. Un niño would be a boy and una niña would be
a girl.
Let's review the pronunciation of these words. LOS PADRES, MAMÁ and PAPÁ. LOS HIJOS: HIJO
and HIJA. LOS HERMANOS: HERMANO and HERMANA.
It's time to add some more relatives -- MÁS FAMILIARES. FAMILIARES is the word for relatives
in Spanish. Children usually have ABUELOS, that is how we say grandparents. The word
for grandmother is ABUELA and the one for grandfather is ABUELO. For LOS ABUELOS these
children are NIETOS or grandchildren in Spanish, in this case UN NIETO (a grandson) and UNA
NIETA (a granddaughter). It is common to change the words ABUELO and ABUELA to ABUELITO and
ABUELITA to make them sound kinder just like grandpa and grandma in English.
Other important relatives are LOS TÍOS or uncles and aunts. We use TÍOS to refer to
all of them. TÍO would be an uncle and TÍA would be an aunt. The son of an uncle or aunt
is UN PRIMO and the daughter of an uncle or aunt is UNA PRIMA. For the parents the children
of their brothers and sisters are SOBRINOS, in this case UN SOBRINO (nephew) and UNA SOBRINA
(niece)
Let's take a few seconds to review the new words. First we have LOS ABUELOS: ABUELO AND
ABUELA. LOS NIETOS: NIETO AND NIETA. LOS TÍOS: TÍO AND TÍA. LOS PRIMOS: PRIMO and PRIMA.
LOS SOBRINOS: SOBRINO AND SOBRINA How to talk about the family in Spanish
Hablando de la familia Some important notes...
Well, this is the interesting part. First the members of a family are Spanish nouns
so they change gender from masculine to feminine like tío and tía or Abuelo and Abuela. That
way you don´t have to learn a new word for each family member like in English, just change
the ending. They also change to plural form, for example tío changes to tíos, and abuelo
to abuelos. MAMÁ and PAPÁ are exceptions because they do not change their gender.
It is common to establish a relationship between us and our relatives in Spanish using possessive
adjectives or adjetivos posesivos like "mi, tu, su, nuestros y sus", the equivalents to
my, your, his, etc. in English. They are used to say things like: "Mi mamá", "Su tío",
"Nuestros padres" and so on.
The Spanish verb SER is used in its forms ES and SON to introduce relatives in Spanish
like in the sentences: Él es mi abuelo (He is my grandfather), Ellos son mis hermanos
(they are my brothers). To say the name of a family member in Spanish, we use the phrase
SE LLAMA, for example: Mi tío se llama Mario
To describe your family in Spanish you can use the verb SER and simple adjectives like
GRANDE, PEQUEÑA, INTELIGENTE, AMABLE and so on, like in these sentences:
Mi mamá es amable Mi familia es grande
Tener is used to talk about people in our family or the relatives we have, for example:
Tengo dos hermanos (I have two brothers), Él tiene un sobrino (he has a nephew) and
so on A paragraph about the family in Spanish
You will now see how we use the vocabulary for the family in Spanish, the verbs SER and
TENER and adjectives to talk about UNA FAMILIA.
Esta es mi familia. Mi mamá se llama Anabel y mi papá se llama Marcos. Tengo dos hermanas.
Ellas son amables. Mi mamá es inteligente y mi papá es estricto. Tenemos dos tíos,
una tía y dos primos. Mi prima es traviesa y mi primo es juguetón. Es una familia pequeña,
pero todos nos llevamos muy bien.