Family in Spanish: vocabulary, possessives and a classroom routine

Family members in Spanish

In the pronunciation column, capitals mark the stressed syllable and “h” stands for the jota, a throaty sound like the ch in Scottish “loch”. The Spanish h is always silent.

The close family

The wider family

Two points for English speakers. The d between vowels, as in padre, madre or cuñado, is soft, close to the th in “mother”. And tío and tía need their accent: the i is stressed and forms its own syllable.

Grammar that comes with the family

1. The masculine plural covers everyone. los padres is “parents”, los hermanos “brothers and sisters”, los tíos “aunts and uncles”. ¿Tienes hermanos? asks about siblings of either sex.
2. Possessives agree with the person owned, not the owner. mi padre, mis padres; tu hermana, tus hermanas. Only nuestro and vuestro change for gender: nuestra abuela.
3. Su is ambiguous. su madre can mean his, her, its, their or your (formal) mother. The context decides.
4. Age uses tener. Mi hermano tiene doce años, never “es doce”.
5. Older and younger are mayor and menor. mi hermana mayor, mi hermano menor. Viejo (old) would be rude.
6. Loved people take the personal a. Quiero mucho a mi abuela. Visito a mis primos.

Talking about your family

¿Cuántas personas hay en tu familia?How many people are there in your family?

En mi familia somos cuatro: mi madre, mi padrastro, mi hermana y yo.There are four of us in my family: my mum, my stepdad, my sister and me.

Tengo dos hermanos y una hermana.I’ve got two brothers and a sister.

Soy hijo único. / Soy hija única.I’m an only child.

Mi hermana mayor se llama Lucía y tiene quince años.My older sister is called Lucía and she’s fifteen.

Me llevo bien con mi primo.I get on well with my cousin.

Mis padres están divorciados.My parents are divorced.

Families take many forms. Let pupils describe a real family, part of it, or an invented one (a famous or fictional family works well), and never make a family tree compulsory. The vocabulary above covers step-families, half-siblings, and pupils who live with one parent (Vivo con mi madre) or with two mums or two dads (Tengo dos madres).

Surnames in the Spanish-speaking world

In Spain, and in most of Latin America, people have two surnames (los apellidos). Traditionally the first is the father’s first surname and the second is the mother’s first surname: the son of Juan García López and Ana Martín Ruiz is called, for example, Pablo García Martín. In Spain, the law now lets parents choose the order.

In Spain, women keep their own surnames when they marry. Customs differ in some Latin American countries, where the husband’s surname could traditionally be added with de.

This is a good cultural hook: pupils work out their own “Spanish” name with two surnames.

Idioms and expressions

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Parientes is not parents. Los parientes are relatives. “Parents” is los padres. This false friend catches pupils every year.
• “Mi padres”: the possessive must be plural: mis padres.
• “Es doce años”: age takes tener: tiene doce años.
• Tio without the accent, pronounced “TYOH” in one syllable.
• “Los padres” read as “the fathers” in reading tasks.
• “Mi hermano viejo” for “my older brother”: it is mi hermano mayor.
• Pronouncing the h of hijo, hermano, hija.

In class: family as a word of the day

Family words are best taught one at a time, with a picture and a clear relationship, then reused about a family the class knows.

1. Show the picture (a grandmother with a child) and the English word: “grandmother”.
2. Ask ¿Cómo se dice en español? Pupils guess on mini whiteboards; give the first letter if needed: a _ _ _ _ _ _.
3. Reveal la abuela with its pronunciation. The class repeats it, then two pupils alone. Stress the diphthong: ah-BWEH-lah.
4. Show the example sentence: Mi abuela vive en Escocia y tiene setenta años.
5. Give the reuse task: each pupil says a sentence about a grandparent, real or invented, with se llama, vive en or tiene … años.
6. Recall yesterday’s word: ¿Cómo se dice “uncle”?

That is exactly what a daily routine does: one relationship at a time, repeated until the whole family tree is automatic.

Guessing games

Relationship riddles are a good A2 extension: Es la hermana de mi madre. ¿Quién es? (mi tía). Es el hijo de mi tío. (mi primo). Pupils then write their own for a partner. A famous family, from a TV series, a royal family or a book, lets you practise the third person without personal questions.

• A1The word with its article and possessive: mi madre, mis abuelos
• A2Describe a family member: Mi hermano mayor se llama Tom, tiene catorce años y es muy divertido.
• B1Relationships in the past and present: Cuando era pequeño, me llevaba mal con mi hermana, pero ahora nos llevamos bien.
• B2Opinions on family life: Es importante que los abuelos pasen tiempo con sus nietos.

At KS2, a picture family and a song are enough. At KS3, insist on mis with plural nouns and on tener for age. At GCSE, family and relationships is a core theme: move to llevarse bien / mal, the imperfect and opinions.

For extra vocabulary between lessons, the free site unapalabrapordia.es, created by the maker of VocaDial, publishes an illustrated Spanish word every day, translated into French, English and German, with its pronunciation and an example sentence recorded in all four languages.

Frequently asked questions