French Family Vocabulary
Family vocabulary is one of the first topics you learn in French and one of the most tested in the DELF A1 and A2 exams. Knowing family ties, relationships and descriptive adjectives will let you talk about yourself and understand texts and conversations about personal life.
Family members — Les membres de la famille
le père / la mère
/pɛʁ/ /mɛʁ/
Mon père s'appelle Pierre.
My father's name is Pierre.
le fils / la fille
/fis/ /fij/
Nous avons une fille de 8 ans.
We have an 8-year-old daughter.
le frère / la sœur
/fʁɛʁ/ /sœʁ/
J'ai deux frères et une sœur.
I have two brothers and one sister.
le grand-père / la grand-mère
/ɡʁɑ̃ pɛʁ/ /ɡʁɑ̃ mɛʁ/
Ma grand-mère a 78 ans.
My grandmother is 78 years old.
l'oncle (m) / la tante
/ɔ̃kl/ /tɑ̃t/
Mon oncle habite à Bordeaux.
My uncle lives in Bordeaux.
le cousin / la cousine
/kuzɛ̃/ /kuzin/
Ma cousine est médecin.
My cousin is a doctor.
le mari / la femme
/maʁi/ /fam/
Son mari est professeur.
Her husband is a teacher.
les parents
/paʁɑ̃/
Mes parents habitent en province.
My parents live outside Paris.
New family structures — Nouvelles structures familiales
la famille recomposée
/famij ʁəkɔ̃poze/
Les familles recomposées sont de plus en plus courantes.
Blended families are increasingly common.
le beau-père / la belle-mère
/bo pɛʁ/ /bɛl mɛʁ/
Mon beau-père est très sympathique.
My stepfather is very nice.
le demi-frère / la demi-sœur
/dəmi fʁɛʁ/
J'ai un demi-frère de ma famille recomposée.
I have a half-brother from my blended family.
le partenaire / le/la conjoint(e)
/paʁtənɛʁ/ /kɔ̃ʒwɛ̃/
Mon partenaire travaille dans la finance.
My partner works in finance.
Ejercicios de vocabulario
1How do you say 'the brother' in French?
2What does 'la famille recomposée' mean?
3What is the correct plural of 'le grand-père'?
Consejos de pronunciacion
- Le fils: the 'l' is silent, but unusually the final 's' IS pronounced — say /fis/, not 'fee' or 'feel'.
- La sœur: the 'œu' spelling makes a rounded vowel sound with no equivalent in English — round your lips as if for 'oh' while saying 'uh'.
- Les parents: the final '-ents' is silent, but the nasal '-an-' is essential — French nasal vowels have no equivalent in English, so the air passes through the nose instead of being blocked by 'n' or 'm'.
- La femme: pronounced /fam/, not 'fem' as its spelling suggests to an English speaker — one of French's odd historical spellings.