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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?
First of all, we use the word FAMILIA to refer to the family in Spanish. We will talk about
two types of families, LAS FAMILIAS NUCLEARES and LAS FAMILIAS EXTENDIDAS, which usually
have lots of family members. We will begin with the family members of a nuclear family...
The first family members you must learn in Spanish 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 Spanish word. If they were married they would be esposo (husband)
and esposa (wife).
Couples often have children. In this family tree, this couple has two children or as we
would say in Spanish ELLOS TIENEN HIJOS un hijo (a son) and una hija (a daughter). The
relationship between LOS HIJOS is that of hermanos (siblings) , that is Hermano (brother)
and Hermana (sister). Another common word for children in Spanish is niños. Un niño
would be a boy and una niña would be a girl.
It's time to add some more relatives in Spanish and make this an extended family. Generally
children have ABUELOS or grandparents in Spanish. In Spanish it would be as simple as saying
abuelo (grandfather) and abuela (grandmother). Now, for the grandparents these children are
NIETOS or grandchildren in Spanish, in this case un nieto (a grandson) and una nieta (a
granddaughter).
Other important relatives are the uncles and aunts, called LOS TÍOS in Spanish. We use
the words tío for uncle and tía for aunt in Spanish. An uncle's child would be UN PRIMO
(a cousin). For parents, the children of their siblings are SOBRINOS, in this case UN SOBRINO
(nephew) and UNA SOBRINA (niece)
How to talk about the family in Spanish
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. The ones that do not change are mamá and papá,
They also change to plural form, for example tío changes to tíos, and abuelo to abuelas.
It is common to establish a relationship between us and our relatives in Spanish using possessive
adjectives or adjetivos posesivos "mi, tu, su, nuestros y sus" (my, your, his, our and
their). That way we can say "Mi mamá", "Su tío", "Nuestros padres" and so on.
The most common verbs to talk about the family are Tener (to have) and Ser (to be). Ser is
used in its forms "Es" and "Son" to introduce relatives in Spanish or to describe someone
with adjectives, for example: Él es mi abuelo (He is my grandfather), Ellos son mis hermanos
(they are my brothers) and Su mamá es bonita (Her mom is beautiful) . Tener is used to
talk about people in your family as in Tengo dos hermanos (I have two brothers), Él tiene
un sobrino (he has a nephew)
A paragraph about the family in Spanish...
Here is a paragraph using some of the vocabulary for the family in Spanish plus some simple
sentences 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.