Family members in French : les membres de la famille
Words to know about the family
In this lesson, You'll be learning the basic vocabulary of the family in French. In a regular family, we can have the following members.
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le père : father
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la mère ; mother
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les parents : parents/relatives
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le frère : brother
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la soeur : sister
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le bébé : baby
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les enfants : children
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le grand-père : grandfather
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la grand-mère grandmother
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les grands-parents : grand parents
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l'oncle : uncle
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la tante : aunt
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le cousin : cousin (male)
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la cousine (female)
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la nièce : niece
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le neveu : nephew
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le fils : son
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la fille : daughter
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le petit-fils : grandson
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la petite-fille : grand daughter
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les petits-enfants
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l'arrière-grand-mère
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l'arrière-grand-père
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les arrières-grands-parents
This list is not exhaustive. We will see soon the inlaws and step family in another section.
How to use this vocabulary
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You can use this vocabulary with the verbe Être if you want to talk about the personality, feelings, health,... of one of your family member.
Example :
Mon père est malade. (My father is sick)
La soeur de Martin est gentille. (Martin's sister is kind)
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You can use the verb avoir to say how many relatives you have.
Example : J'ai un frère et deux soeurs (I have one brother and two sisters).
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You can also use it with " Il y a" to tell the number of people that are in your family.
Example : Il y a trois personnes dans ma famille. (In my family, there are three people).
Hierarchy in the family
When talking about hierarchy in the family members, we can use the vocabulary below
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un aîné/une aînée : first born son/daughter of the family. It can also mean any elder brother/sister or the eldest brother/sister.
Example :
Katy est ma fille aînée. (Katy is my eldest daughter).
Alice était ma soeur aînée. (Alice was my eldest sister).
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un cadet/une cadette : the younger brother/sister or the second-born son/daughter of a family
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le benjamin/la benjamine : the youngest child
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les aïeuls/ aïeules : refer to the grandparents. We talk about aïeuls maternels/parternels.
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les aïeux : ancestors.