1.6.1 Family members

Table of Contents

Understanding Family Words in German

In this chapter you learn the most common German words for family members. You also see how to show if someone is male or female, and how to talk about more than one person in a family. Detailed rules about plural formation and possessive articles come in later chapters, so here we focus on basic and useful vocabulary.

The Core Family

Start with the closest family members. Many of these words are very frequent in everyday conversations.

In German there are formal and informal options for some family words. The table shows the basic forms you need first.

English	German (singular)	Notes
family	die Familie	plural: die Familien
mother	die Mutter	informal: die Mama
father	der Vater	informal: der Papa
parents	die Eltern	only plural, no singular “Elter” used in daily speech
child	das Kind	plural: die Kinder
children	die Kinder	same plural as for “child”
son	der Sohn	plural: die Söhne
daughter	die Tochter	plural: die Töchter

Important:
“die Eltern” is always plural. There is no common daily singular form for “parent.”

Notice the three different article forms with these words. A later chapter explains gender and articles in detail. For now, simply learn each word together with its article.

Brothers, Sisters, and Siblings

To talk about brothers and sisters, you often say how many you have.

English	German (singular)	German (plural)
brother	der Bruder	die Brüder
sister	die Schwester	die Schwestern
siblings	die Geschwister	only plural form

“die Geschwister” means “brothers and sisters” together. It does not show the exact number or the gender mix.

Example sentence type you will often see:
“Ich habe zwei Brüder und eine Schwester.”
Later, main clause structure and possessive words like “mein” or “meine” are covered in their own chapters.

Grandparents and Grandchildren

Family vocabulary is very regular here. You can see how words are formed from the basic ones: “Vater,” “Mutter,” “Kind.”

English	German (singular)	German (plural)
grandmother	die Großmutter	die Großmütter
grandfather	der Großvater	die Großväter
grandparents	die Großeltern	only plural
grandma (informal)	die Oma	die Omas
grandpa (informal)	der Opa	die Opas
grandchild	das Enkelkind	die Enkelkinder
grandson	der Enkel	die Enkel
granddaughter	die Enkelin	die Enkelinnen

“Oma” and “Opa” are very common in spoken German, similar to “grandma” and “grandpa” in English. You can use the more formal “Großmutter” and “Großvater” in careful or written contexts.

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins

For extended family, you mostly add new word roots. These are useful when you talk about family gatherings or when you describe your wider family.

English	German (singular)	German (plural)
aunt	die Tante	die Tanten
uncle	der Onkel	die Onkel
cousin (male)	der Cousin	die Cousins
cousin (female)	die Cousine	die Cousinen
nephew	der Neffe	die Neffen
niece	die Nichte	die Nichten

The words “Cousin” and “Cousine” often sound similar to French. Pronunciation is covered in earlier chapters of the course.

In-laws and Partners

In German you can build many “in-law” words with the element “Schwieger.” At A1 level you only need the most basic of them and some common words for partners.

English	German (singular)	German (plural)
husband	der Ehemann	die Ehemänner
wife	die Ehefrau	die Ehefrauen
partner (male)	der Partner	die Partner
partner (female)	die Partnerin	die Partnerinnen
boyfriend	der Freund	die Freunde
girlfriend	die Freundin	die Freundinnen
parents-in-law	die Schwiegereltern	only plural
mother-in-law	die Schwiegermutter	die Schwiegermütter
father-in-law	der Schwiegervater	die Schwiegerväter
son-in-law	der Schwiegersohn	die Schwiegersöhne
daughter-in-law	die Schwiegertochter	die Schwiegertöchter

The words “Freund” and “Freundin” can mean “friend” or “boyfriend / girlfriend.” The exact meaning depends on context and on how people talk about relationships. For A1 level, understand both possibilities.

Stepfamilies

Sometimes family includes step-relatives. German uses the element “Stief” for “step.”

English	German (singular)	German (plural)
stepmother	die Stiefmutter	die Stiefmütter
stepfather	der Stiefvater	die Stiefväter
stepson	der Stiefsohn	die Stiefsöhne
stepdaughter	die Stieftochter	die Stieftöchter
stepbrother	der Stiefbruder	die Stiefbrüder
stepsister	die Stiefschwester	die Stiefschwestern

You can see how “Stief” combines with already known family words. Do not worry about spelling changes in the plurals here; later chapters about plurals explain these patterns.

Other Useful Words for Family Talk

When talking about family, you often need general words that describe relationships or generations.

English	German (singular)	Notes
relative	der Verwandte / die Verwandte	plural: die Verwandten
generation	die Generation	plural: die Generationen
twin (male)	der Zwilling	plural: die Zwillinge
twin (female)	die Zwillingin	plural: die Zwillinginnen
only child	das Einzelkind	plural: die Einzelkinder

Later in the course you learn how to say “my relative,” “your uncle,” or “his cousin” with possessive articles. Here the focus is on recognizing and understanding the basic nouns.

Learn every new family word together with its article (der, die, das).
The article is part of the vocabulary and shows the grammatical gender.

Vocabulary List for This Chapter

German	Article	English
die Familie	die	family
die Mutter	die	mother
die Mama	die	mum / mom
der Vater	der	father
der Papa	der	dad
die Eltern	die	parents
das Kind	das	child
die Kinder	die	children
der Sohn	der	son
die Söhne	die	sons
die Tochter	die	daughter
die Töchter	die	daughters
der Bruder	der	brother
die Brüder	die	brothers
die Schwester	die	sister
die Schwestern	die	sisters
die Geschwister	die	siblings
die Großmutter	die	grandmother
die Großmütter	die	grandmothers
der Großvater	der	grandfather
die Großväter	die	grandfathers
die Großeltern	die	grandparents
die Oma	die	grandma
die Omas	die	grandmas
der Opa	der	grandpa
die Opas	die	grandpas
das Enkelkind	das	grandchild
die Enkelkinder	die	grandchildren
der Enkel	der	grandson
die Enkel	die	grandsons / grandchildren
die Enkelin	die	granddaughter
die Enkelinnen	die	granddaughters
die Tante	die	aunt
die Tanten	die	aunts
der Onkel	der	uncle
die Onkel	die	uncles
der Cousin	der	cousin (male)
die Cousins	die	cousins (male / mixed)
die Cousine	die	cousin (female)
die Cousinen	die	cousins (female)
der Neffe	der	nephew
die Neffen	die	nephews
die Nichte	die	niece
die Nichten	die	nieces
der Ehemann	der	husband
die Ehemänner	die	husbands
die Ehefrau	die	wife
die Ehefrauen	die	wives
der Partner	der	partner (male)
die Partner	die	partners (male / mixed)
die Partnerin	die	partner (female)
die Partnerinnen	die	partners (female)
der Freund	der	friend / boyfriend
die Freunde	die	friends / boyfriends
die Freundin	die	friend / girlfriend
die Freundinnen	die	(female) friends / girlfriends
die Schwiegereltern	die	parents-in-law
die Schwiegermutter	die	mother-in-law
die Schwiegermütter	die	mothers-in-law
der Schwiegervater	der	father-in-law
die Schwiegerväter	die	fathers-in-law
der Schwiegersohn	der	son-in-law
die Schwiegersöhne	die	sons-in-law
die Schwiegertochter	die	daughter-in-law
die Schwiegertöchter	die	daughters-in-law
die Stiefmutter	die	stepmother
die Stiefmütter	die	stepmothers
der Stiefvater	der	stepfather
die Stiefväter	die	stepfathers
der Stiefsohn	der	stepson
die Stiefsöhne	die	stepsons
die Stieftochter	die	stepdaughter
die Stieftöchter	die	stepdaughters
der Stiefbruder	der	stepbrother
die Stiefbrüder	die	stepbrothers
die Stiefschwester	die	stepsister
die Stiefschwestern	die	stepsisters
der Verwandte	der	relative (male)
die Verwandte	die	relative (female)
die Verwandten	die	relatives
die Generation	die	generation
die Generationen	die	generations
der Zwilling	der	twin (male / general)
die Zwillinge	die	twins
die Zwillingin	die	twin (female)
die Zwillinginnen	die	female twins
das Einzelkind	das	only child
die Einzelkinder	die	only children

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