By the end of this lesson you'll be able to name the people in your family, say whose mother or brother someone is, and tell someone how many brothers, sisters or children you have.
Your close family
Family words are good nouns to learn first, because their gender is easy: nearly all of them match the person they describe. As you saw in the lesson on le, la and les, it's best to learn each noun with its article.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| la famille | lah fah-MEE-y | the family |
| le père | luh PEHR | the father |
| la mère | lah MEHR | the mother |
| les parents | lay pah-RAHN | the parents |
| le frère | luh FREHR | the brother |
| la sœur | lah SUHR | the sister |
Notice the accent in père, mère and frère. It's always è, the grave accent. Les parents looks like the English word, and it's plural, so it takes les.
Children
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| l'enfant | lahn-FAHN | the childSame word for a boy or a girl: un enfant, une enfant. |
| le fils | luh FEES | the sonThe l is silent and the s is pronounced. |
| la fille | lah FEE-y | the daughter, the girl |
Be careful with two of these words:
- La fille means both "the girl" and "the daughter". Une fille usually means "a girl", and la fille de Paul means "Paul's daughter".
- Le fils looks as if it should rhyme with fille, but it doesn't. The l is silent and the final s is pronounced.
L'enfant works for boys and girls, so the article shows which you mean when it matters: un enfant or une enfant. With l'enfant you can't tell, because the article shortens before the vowel.
Grandparents and grandchildren
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| le grand-père | luh grahn-PEHR | the grandfather |
| la grand-mère | lah grahn-MEHR | the grandmother |
| les grands-parents | lay grahn pah-RAHN | the grandparents |
| le petit-fils | luh puh-tee-FEES | the grandson |
| la petite-fille | lah puh-teet-FEE-y | the granddaughter |
| les petits-enfants | lay puh-tee-zahn-FAHN | the grandchildren |
These are all written with a hyphen. Look closely at the spelling of the feminine forms: la grand-mère doesn't add an -e to grand, but la petite-fille does add one to petit.
Husbands, wives and partners
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| le mari | luh mah-REE | the husband |
| la femme | lah FAHM | the wife, the woman |
| le compagnon / la compagne | luh kohn-pah-NYOHN / lah kohn-PAH-nyuh | the partner (man / woman)For a long-term partner. |
| le copain / la copine | luh koh-PAN / lah koh-PEEN | the boyfriend / the girlfriendAlso means a friend. The context tells you which. |
La femme means both "the woman" and "the wife", just as la fille does two jobs. La femme de Paul can only mean "Paul's wife".
For someone you're not married to, you can use le compagnon or la compagne for a long-term partner. Le copain and la copine are more casual and common among younger people. They can also just mean a friend, so the context matters.
Saying whose relative
To say who someone is, combine c'est with a family word and de. Use the same method for a question: C'est la sœur de qui ? (Whose sister is she?).
C'est le père de Julie.
That's Julie's father.
C'est la femme de Paul.
That's Paul's wife.
C'est la grand-mère d'Anne.
That's Anne's grandmother.
Voici les enfants de Marie.
Here are Marie's children.
De shortens to d' before a vowel or silent h, just like je and le.
To talk about your own family, one short phrase will do for now: J'ai (I have), followed by un, une or a number. You'll learn the whole verb in the next lesson.
J'ai un frère et une sœur.
I have a brother and a sister.
J'ai deux enfants, un fils et une fille.
I have two children, a son and a daughter.
Putting it together
Here's someone talking through a family photo. Every sentence uses a pattern from this lesson.
- Voici la famille de Julie. (Here's Julie's family.)
- C'est le mari de Julie, et ce sont les enfants. (That's Julie's husband, and those are the children.)
What's next
J'ai comes from a very useful verb, which you'll learn fully in the lesson on avoir. After that, the lesson on mon, ma and mes teaches how to say "my father", "your sister" and "their children". You'll bring everything together in the review of this unit, where you describe your family.