How to Talk About Your Spouse and Children

Learn how to talk about your spouse and children

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Spanish by SpanishPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your spouse and children in Spanish.

For example, "My husband, my son, my daughters, and me." is

Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

Valeria Varela is studying with her Spanish teacher, Sonia Hernandez Acevedo.

The teacher notices a picture on Valeria's computer and asks about the people visible in the picture.

Before you hear their conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

esposo

"husband"

esposo

hijo

"son"

hijo

hijas

"daughter"

hijas

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.

Note: Sonia uses formal Spanish.

Ready?

¿Es su familia?

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

Once more with the English translation.

¿Es su familia?

"Is this your family?"

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mi hijas y yo.

"Yes. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Sonia asks,

"Is this your family?"

¿Es su familia?

Let's start with the word familia, "family." Familia. Familia.

In Spanish, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Familia is feminine and singular — a fact that determines the form of other words in the sentence.

Before this is su, meaning "your," in this formal context. Su. Su.

Note su fundamentally means “his,” “hers,” or “its,” but it’s also a formal way to say “your” when speaking to someone directly using formal Spanish.

Now, you might be more familiar with tu, an informal word for "your," as in tu familia, “your family.” As this is a conversation between two adults that don’t know each other very well, the formal form, su, is more appropriate.

All together, su familia "your family." Su familia.

Moving to the start of the sentence, es, "is." Es. Es.

Es comes from the verb, ser, meaning "to be."

All together, it's ¿Es su familia? This literally means "Is your family?" But it translates as "Is this your family?"

¿Es su familia?

Note “this” is understood from context.

Also, note the rising intonation of the sentence to indicate that it's a question. ¿Es su familia?

Remember this question. You'll hear it again later.

Let's take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Valeria says,

"Yes. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

First is the word, sí, meaning "yes." Sí. Sí.

It answers Sonia’s yes-or-no question, "Is your family?" ¿Es su familia?

After this, Valeria points to the picture and says,

Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

First is mi esposo. "My husband." Mi esposo.

Mi. "My." Mi. Mi.

Esposo. "Husband." Esposo. Esposo.

Together, it's mi esposo. "My husband." Mi esposo.

Next is Hijo. "Son." Hijo. Hijo.

Mi hijo. "My son." Mi hijo.

After this is mis hijas. " My daughters." Mis hijas. Mis hijas.

Mis hijas. "My daughters." Mis hijas.

Mis is plural to agree with hijas.

Note, hijas is from the word hija, meaning "daughter." Hija.

Therefore mi hija, "my daughter." Mi hija.

Note, to refer to "sons" or to "children" when at least one of your children is a boy, use mis hijos. Mis hijos. mis hijos.

Next is y. "And." Y. Y.

Last is the word, yo, which translates as "me," in this context. Yo. Yo.

All together, Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mi hijas y yo. means "My husband, my son, my daughter, and me."

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

The pattern is

Mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER y yo.

"My FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, and me."

To use this pattern, simply replace the FAMILY MEMBER placeholder with the members of your family.

Imagine your family members are your wife, your son, your daughters, and you.

Esposa is "wife." Esposa. Esposa.

Say

"My wife, my son, my daughters, and me."

Mi esposa, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

"My wife, my son, my daughters, and me."

Mi esposa, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

Again, the key pattern is

Mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER y yo.

"My FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, and me."

Let's look at some more examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

"My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Mi esposo, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

Mi esposa, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

"My wife, my son, my daughters, and me."

Mi esposa, mi hijo, mis hijas y yo.

Mi esposa, mi hija y yo.

"My wife, my daughter, and me."

Mi esposa, mi hija y yo.

Mi esposo, mi hijo y yo.

"My husband, my son, and me."

Mi esposo, mi hijo y yo.

Mi esposo, mis hijos y yo.

"My husband, my children, and me."

Mi esposo, mis hijos y yo.

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "yes?"

Sí.

And how to say "me”?

Yo.

Do you remember how to say "and”?

And how to say "daughter?"

Hija.

Do you remember how to say "my daughter?"

Mi hija.

And do you remember how to say "my daughters?"

mis hijas

Do you remember how to say "son?"

Hijo.

And do you remember how to say "husband?"

Esposo.

Do you remember how Valeria says,

"Yes. My husband, my son, my daughter, and me."

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mi hija y yo.

Do you remember how to say "family?"

Familia.

And the formal way to say "your family?"

Su familia.

And do you remember how Sonia asks,

"Is this your family?"

¿Es su familia?

Do you remember how to say "wife?"

Esposa.

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Jorge Soto.

You have a wife, esposa, and a daughter, hija.

Respond to the question referring to the photo.

Don't forget to include the word for "yes" at the beginning of your response.

Ready?

¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi esposa, mi hija y yo.

Listen again and repeat.

Sí. Mi esposa, mi hija y yo.

Let's try another.

Imagine you're Valeria's boss, Rosa Reyes.

You have a husband, esposo, daughter, hija, and a son, hijo.

Ready?

¿Es su familia?

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hija, mi hijo y yo.

Listen again and repeat.

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hija, mi hijo y yo.

Let's try one more.

Imagine you're Valeria's friend, Rita Rios.

You have a husband, esposo, and a son, hijo.

Ready?

¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo y yo.

Listen again and repeat.

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo y yo.

In less formal situations, like speaking with a friend or close colleague, the less formal, tu, is more appropriate.

Tu, “your.” Tu. Tu.

In this lesson, you learned how to talk about your spouse and children in Spanish. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of talking about family. Let’s review the family members.

Do you remember how to say "sister”?

Hermana.

And how to say "my sister”?

Mi hermana.

Do you remember how to say "brother?"

Hermano.

And how to say "mother”?

Mamá.

Do you remember how to say "father”?

Papá.

Imagine you're Ben Lee , and you have a mother, father and sister.

Respond to your classmate Ricardo Roman Garza , who sees a picture in your wallet, and asks for the people in it.

Ready?

Ricardo Roman Garza : ¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana y yo.

Listen again, and repeat.

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana y yo.

Now imagine that you're Ben's mother, Karen Lee , and your friend asks about the people in the picture on your phone.

¿Es su familia?

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mi hija y yo.

Listen again, and repeat.

Sí. Mi esposo, mi hijo, mi hija y yo.

Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Talk About Family unit of this course.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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