Speak about Family in Spanish (Phrases for La Familia) (2024)

In this article, I’ll teach you how to speak about your family in Spanish! It does not matter whether you’re an only child or whether you have 12 siblings and 20 aunts or whether you’re still single or married to the love of your life.

After having read this piece, you’ll be able to present your entire family.

1. Basic vocabulary for family in Spanish (La familia)

Family is generally a very important part of any Latin American, so it’s very likely that your Spanish-speaking friends will want to talk to you about sus familias (their families) and ask you about yours.

So, first, let’s see some vocabulary in Spanish that you’ll need to know to answer like a native:

• Padre (Father)
• Madre (Mother)
• Hijo (Son)
• Hija (Daughter)
• Hermano (Brother)
• Hermana (Sister)
• Abuelo (Grandfather)
• Abuela (Grandmother)
• Tío (Uncle)
• Tía (Aunt)
• Primo (Cousin) — masculine / Prima (Cousin) — feminine
• Esposo (Husband)
• Esposa (Wife)

Please note that in Spanish, the plural default expression if there’s at least one male involved is generally the masculine plural. So for “parents”, we say “padres“; for children (as in sons and daughters), we say hijos; for siblings, hermanos; for grandparents, abuelos.

Why don’t you try it with cousins and the others and let me know in the comments? I’ll make sure to check your answers!

If you come from a big family and have many siblings, aunts or cousins, you can use mayor (older) and menor (younger) in expressions like these:

• Mi hermana mayor es alta. (Mi older sister is tall.)
• Mi padre es menor que mis tíos. (Myfather is younger than my uncles.)
• A tu primo menor le gusta el fútbol. (Your younger cousin likes soccer.)

These are very useful chunks you can learn by heart to start speaking about your family!

2. How to talk about family in Spanish

So, as you can see, in Spanish, similar to English, we use possessive pronouns to address our family members. Let’s review them quickly:

• Mi (My)
• Tu (Your) — informal
• Su (Formal your, as well as her, his and their)
• Nuestro (masculine) / Nuestra (feminine) (Our)

Remember if it’s plural, add an S to the pronouns like mis papás (my parents).

If you want to give more details about your family, then you want to use es and está to describe situational, physical or personality traits about them:

• Tu papá es ingeniero. Es el mayor de sus hermanos. (Your dad’s an engineer. He’s the oldest brother.)
• ¡Mi hermana está embarazada! (My sister is pregnant!)
• Nuestros primos están en Estados Unidos. (Our cousins are in the United States.)

If you want to know more about the verb to be in Spanish (ser-estar), just check Mariana’s video. She has great chunks prepared for you about that!

3. In-laws in Spanish

Now you know how to talk about your immediate family, but what about your family in-law?

These are the words to use:

• Suegro (Father-in-law)
• Suegra (Mother-in-law)
• Cuñado (Brother-in-law)
• Cuñada (Sister-in-law)
• Yerno (Son-in-law)
• Nuera (Daughter-in-law)

Let me give you some chunks about myself:

• Mi hermana tiene una hija. (My sister has one daughter.)
• Mi sobrina es Argentina. ¡Es una bebé! (My niece is Argentinian. She’s a baby!)
• Mi padre y mi madre están felizmente casados. (My father and mother are happily married.)
• Mi mamá es baja y mi papá es alto. (My mom is short and my dad is tall.)
• Yo estoy casado. Mi esposa es venezolana y morena. (I am married. My wife is Venezuelan and a brunette.) También se enoja fácilmente.(She also gets angry easily.)

4. Learn more family words about extended family member in Spanish with FREE training

¡Buenísimo! (Very good!)

Remember: we have a whole series of Spanish beginner videos, so feel free to check out the other videos from me and the other Spring Spanish teachers on our channel!

If you want to become part of the Spring Spanish family, we have a free Spanish training on our website where you’ll discover the method we use in our Spring Spanish Academy to teach students to speak fluent Spanish. You also get some free sample Spanish lessons there that come straight from our Academy!