Family in French: vocabulary, possessives and a classroom routine

Family members in French

In the pronunciation column, capitals mark the syllable to lean on slightly (French stress is light and falls on the last syllable). (n) marks a nasal vowel: air goes through the nose and the n itself is not pronounced. “zh” is the s in “measure”, “uh” is the short vowel in “the”, and “ü” is “ee” said with rounded lips. The French r is made at the back of the throat.

The close family

The wider family

Pronunciation for English speakers

• fils, fille, file: le fils is “feess” (silent l, sounded s); la fille is “fee-y”. Pupils often swap them in listening tasks.
• femme is “fam”, not “fem”.
• sœur: the œu sound is close to the vowel in British “sir”, with rounded lips and no r in the middle.
• père, mère, frère rhyme with “air”; the accent grave gives an open e.
• Liaison with possessives: mes oncles is “may-ZO(N)-kluh”, mon oncle is “mo(n)-NO(N)-kluh”.
• Silent endings: les parents ends on the nasal, le neveu on the vowel.

Possessives and grammar

1. The possessive agrees with the person owned. mon père, ma mère, mes parents; ton frère, ta sœur, tes cousins.
2. Son and sa do not tell you whose. son père is his or her father; sa mère his or her mother. Pupils must choose by the gender of the parent, not of the owner.
3. Mon before a vowel, even for a woman. mon amie, mon arrière-grand-mère, to avoid a clash of vowels.
4. Age uses avoir. Mon frère a douze ans, never “est douze”.
5. After a negative, de. Je n’ai pas de sœur. Je n’ai pas de frère.
6. Older and younger: mon grand frère, ma petite sœur; in more formal French, mon frère aîné (eldest) and ma sœur cadette (younger).

Plurals of compound words

Les grands-parents, les petits-enfants, les beaux-pères, les belles-mères: both parts take an s. For grand-mère, both des grands-mères and the older des grand-mères are accepted.

Talking about your family

Il y a combien de personnes dans ta famille ?How many people are there in your family?

Nous sommes quatre : ma mère, mon beau-père, ma sœur et moi.There are four of us: my mum, my stepdad, my sister and me.

J’ai deux frères et une demi-sœur.I’ve got two brothers and a half-sister.

Je suis fils unique. / Je suis fille unique.I’m an only child.

Ma grande sœur s’appelle Léa et elle a quinze ans.My older sister is called Léa and she’s fifteen.

Je m’entends bien avec mon cousin.I get on well with my cousin.

Mes parents sont divorcés.My parents are divorced.

Families take many forms. Let pupils describe a real family, part of it, or an invented or famous one, and never make a family tree compulsory. The step-family words above, and phrases such as J’habite avec ma mère or J’ai deux mamans, let every pupil talk about their situation if they wish.

Regional words

The family vocabulary is shared across the French-speaking world, with a few informal variants. In Quebec, ma blonde means “my girlfriend” and mon chum “my boyfriend” (or a male friend); mononcle and matante are familiar forms of “uncle” and “aunt”. In Belgium, and in some families in France, grandparents are bon-papa and bonne-maman. Children everywhere say tonton and tata (or tatie).

Idioms and expressions

Note the difference with English: the French idiom says the dirty laundry should be washed within the family, not in public.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Using the owner’s gender: “sa père” for “her father”. It is son père.
• “Ma amie”: it is mon amie.
• “Il est douze”: it is Il a douze ans.
• “Je n’ai pas des sœurs”: it is pas de sœurs.
• fils pronounced “feels”, or confused with fille.
• Beau-père translated only as “father-in-law”: for most pupils it means stepfather.
• “Une bébé”: le bébé is always masculine.
• Parents is also relatives: un parent éloigné is a distant relative.

In class: family as a word of the day

1. Show the picture (a grandmother with a child) and the English word: “grandmother”.
2. Ask Comment dit-on “grandmother” en français ? Pupils guess on mini whiteboards; give the first letter if needed.
3. Reveal la grand-mère with its pronunciation. The class repeats it, then two pupils alone.
4. Show the example sentence: Ma grand-mère habite en Écosse et elle a soixante-dix ans.
5. Give the reuse task: each pupil says a sentence about a grandparent, real or invented, with elle s’appelle, elle habite or elle a … ans.
6. Recall yesterday’s word: Comment dit-on “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 make a good A2 extension: C’est la sœur de ma mère. Qui est-ce ? (ma tante). C’est le fils de mon oncle. (mon cousin). A famous family, from a series, a book or a royal family, lets you practise son, sa and ses without personal questions.

• A1The word with its possessive: mon père, ma sœur, mes grands-parents
• A2Describe a family member: Mon grand frère s’appelle Tom, il a quatorze ans et il est drôle.
• B1Relationships over time: Quand j’étais petit, je me disputais avec ma sœur, mais maintenant on s’entend bien.
• B2Opinions on family life: Il est important que les grands-parents passent du temps avec leurs petits-enfants.

At KS2, a picture family and a song are enough. At KS3, insist on mon / ma / mes, avoir for age and pas de. At GCSE, family and relationships is a core theme: move to s’entendre avec, the imperfect and opinions.

Frequently asked questions