Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Fun and Easy Spanish by SpanishPod101.com!
How do you say "brother" in Spanish?
And how about something more complex like "daughter-in-law?"
Hola a todos. Soy Rosa.
Hi everyone! I’m Rosa.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your family in Spanish.
Learning the names of family members in Spanish is essential not only to talk about yourself, but also to understand more about your Spanish friends!
In this video, you'll learn:
- how grammatical gender affects family member names;
- terms you can use for your own relatives—whether through direct relation or marriage;
- Terms of endearment, Idioms about family members, and more.
Let’s get started by seeing how grammatical gender affects the names of family members.
But before we begin, let’s go over some basic concepts which are important to know.
First, let’s have a look at the ending vowels "O" and "A."
Knowing how to correctly name family members in Spanish begins with realizing that Spanish is grammatically gendered.
Spanish nouns are classified as either masculine (often ending in -o) or feminine (often ending in -a).
As an example of this difference between English and Spanish, consider the English word, "cousin." In English, the same word is used for both male and female cousins, whereas in Spanish, the equivalent words,
primo and prima,
differ in their ending vowels (-o and -a).
Note, however, that we can not always simply change the ending vowel. Take the words,
Marido = "Husband"
and
Esposa = "Wife"
In this case, these two words do not share a common root.
The feminine form is not "marida," nor can the word for "wife" be made into a masculine noun in Iberian Spanish.
Another difference between English and Spanish is how you refer to both male and female siblings.
Consider the following example:
Yo tengo dos hermanos: José y Mónica.
"I have two siblings: José and Mónica."
[SLOW] Yo tengo dos hermanos: José y Mónica.
Yo tengo dos hermanos: José y Mónica.
Although Los hermanos in Spanish refers to both your brothers and your sisters, it is a masculine noun. The English word "siblings," on the other hand, is gender-neutral.
A second element that helps you differentiate between the feminine and masculine nouns is the use of articles. When you’re talking about a family member in Spanish, the use of articles can help new learners understand the grammatical gender.
The female articles are La, las, una, and unas.
And the male articles are El, los, un, and unos.
Here are two example sentences.
La prima de Juan se llama Andrea.
"Juan’s cousin is named Andrea."
[SLOW] La prima de Juan se llama Andrea.
La prima de Juan se llama Andrea.
Juan es el yerno de mi madre.
"Juan is my mother’s son-in-law."
[SLOW] Juan es el yerno de mi madre.
Juan es el yerno de mi madre.
Next, let’s learn some basic terms for your immediate family.
Madre
"Mother"
[SLOW] Madre
Madre
Padre
"Father"
[SLOW] Padre
Padre
Hermana
"Sister"
[SLOW] Hermana
Hermana
Hermano
"Brother"
[SLOW] Hermano
Hermano
Abuela
"Grandmother"
[SLOW] Abuela
Abuela
Abuelo
"Grandfather"
[SLOW] Abuelo
Abuelo
Next, let's learn some more terms for referring to relatives that are not in your immediate family.
Tía
"Aunt"
[SLOW] Tía
Tía
Tío
"Uncle"
[SLOW] Tío
Tío
Prima
"Female cousin"
[SLOW] Prima
Prima
Primo
"Male cousin"
[SLOW] Primo
Primo
Sobrina
"Niece"
[SLOW] Sobrina
Sobrina
Sobrino
"Nephew"
[SLOW] Sobrino
Sobrino
Next, here are terms for family members who are related by marriage.
In Spanish, we say La familia política to mean "The in-laws," which are the people that one is related to through marriage.
Cuñado
"Brother-in-law"
[SLOW] Cuñado
Cuñado
Cuñada
"Sister-in-law"
[SLOW] Cuñada
Cuñada
Yerno
"Son-in-law"
[SLOW] Yerno
Yerno
Nuera
"Daughter-in-law"
[SLOW] Nuera
Nuera
Suegra
"Mother-in-law"
[SLOW] Suegra
Suegra
Suegro
"Father-in-law"
[SLOW] Suegro
Suegro
Unlike in English, Spanish has terms for the mother and father-in-law of one’s child:
Consuegra
"Mother-in-law of one’s child"
[SLOW] Consuegra
Consuegra
Consuegro
"Father-in-law of one’s child"
[SLOW] Consuegro
Consuegro
In Spanish, we use diminutive terms with our loved ones to express familiarity or endearment.
You just need to add the suffix -ito or -ita to the end of the word.
For example, if you want to call you grandfather, or
abuelo,
with a word of endearment, you can say
abuelito,
which is similar to "grandpa,"
[SLOW] abuelito
abuelito.
instead of
Tía, you can also say
tita
"aunt" in English.
[SLOW] tita
tita.
Some relatives can be named in multiple ways.
Here are common ways to refer to your close family with affection:
For your mother, you can say,
Ma
Mamá
Amá
And for your father, you can say,
Pa
Papá
Apá
Generally, kids call their mother mamá and their father papá. Mamá and papá should have an accent on the last vowel, otherwise they mean something different.
For your grandfathers, you can say,
Yayo
Abuelito
Abu
And for your grandmothers, you can say,
Yaya
Nana
Abuelita
Abu
Notice that Abu can be used for both "grandmother" and "grandfather."
And lastly, here are the three most common Spanish idioms that involve family members.
Let’s start with the English expression "like father, like son." To say this in Spanish, you can use the expression
de tal palo tal astilla
[SLOW] de tal palo tal astilla
de tal palo tal astilla
Note that although the meaning is the same as "like father, like son," if translated directly, this would be "of such stick, such a splinter."
Most of the time, expressions in the Spanish language are based on culture. They should almost never be translated literally, so be careful.
Now, when someone has a high opinion of themselves, you can say, Parece que no tienes abuela.
Grandmothers normally praise their grandchildren, so this expression is used to say that someone doesn’t need a grandmother, because they praise themselves instead.
Parece que no tienes abuela
"It seems that you don’t have a grandmother."
[SLOW] Parece que no tienes abuela
Parece que no tienes abuela
In Spain, you can use the next expression when someone doesn’t have enough experience; perhaps he or she is too young or just lacks knowledge.
This expression originates from a time long ago, when eggs were more scarce and sought-after.
Back then, the father was the only one who was able to have eggs, so when his children asked for eggs, the mother would say,
"When you’re a father, you’ll eat eggs."
Cuando seas padre, comerás huevos
"When you are a father you will eat eggs."
[SLOW] Cuando seas padre, comerás huevos
Cuando seas padre, comerás huevos
In this lesson, you learned a lot of words and phrases relating to family. You even learned some Spanish idioms. Spanish speaking cultures love familial idioms, so practice using them!
The next time you’re at a party and encounter a Spanish speaker, you should ask about their family; there’s no better ice breaker, they enjoy talking about their extended families.
Want to learn the language fast with PDF cheat sheets?
You can get cheat sheets for all kinds of topics: travel, hobbies, love, and much more...
..and you'll learn all of the must-know words and phrases for each.
Click the link in the lesson description and sign up for a free lifetime account to get them!
That’s it for today! See you next time!
¡Hasta la próxima!

Comments

Hide