Last time you could greet people, count, and say a little about yourself. Today the subject is la familia — the family. The lovely thing about Spanish family words is that they come in neat pairs: a masculine word that ends in -o, and a feminine one that ends in -a. Once you spot the pattern, you get two words for the price of one.
Your parents are el padre (father) and la madre (mother). Your brother and sister are el hermano and la hermana. The little word in front — el for a male, la for a female — both mean "the". The choice follows the gender of the noun.
| Español | Sounds like | English |
|---|---|---|
| la familia | lah fah-MEE-lyah | the family |
| el padre | el PAH-dreh | father |
| la madre | lah MAH-dreh | mother |
| el hermano | el er-MAH-no | brother |
| la hermana | lah er-MAH-nah | sister |
| el abuelo | el ah-BWEH-lo | grandfather |
| la abuela | lah ah-BWEH-lah | grandmother |
| el tío | el TEE-o | uncle |
| la tía | lah TEE-ah | aunt |
| el primo | el PREE-mo | cousin (boy) |
| la prima | lah PREE-mah | cousin (girl) |
| el hijo | el EE-ho | son |
| la hija | lah EE-hah | daughter |
Notice the accent on el tío and la tía — that little mark over the í tells you to lean on that syllable: TEE-o, TEE-ah.
In hermano, hija and hijo, the h is completely silent — Spanish never sounds its h. So hermana begins with the "er" sound, and hijo sounds like "EE-ho".
The word familia goes back to the Latin familia — but in ancient Rome that word meant the whole household, including the servants, not only blood relatives. The warm, narrow meaning we give "family" today grew up slowly over many centuries.
To say "my" in Spanish you use mi: mi madre ("my mother"), mi hermano ("my brother"). Helpfully, mi stays the same whether the person is male or female — mi padre, mi tía, both with mi.
There is one change to make. When you talk about more than one person, "my" becomes mis. So one brother is mi hermano, but two or more are mis hermanos. The rule is about number, not gender: mi for one, mis for several. And the noun itself takes an -s in the plural — exactly as English adds "-s".
los padres means "the parents" — father and mother together. los hermanos means "the siblings" — it covers a mixed group of brothers and sisters, not only boys. Spanish uses the masculine plural for any mixed group.
Now the verb that earns its keep: tengo means "I have". You met it for your age last time — tengo trece años, "I am thirteen". It works for family too. Tengo un hermano means "I have one brother"; tengo una hermana, "I have one sister"; tengo un hermano y una hermana, "I have a brother and a sister". For two or more, the noun goes plural: tengo dos hermanos.
A small thing worth seeing: un goes with a masculine word (un hermano), and una with a feminine one (una hermana). Both mean "a / one".
Tap each card — the Spanish on the front, the meaning on the back:
Spanish often leaves out the word for "I". You can say tengo on its own and everyone knows it means "I have", because the verb ending carries the "I" inside it. The full word yo ("I") is added only when you want to stress it.
To describe what someone is like, Spanish uses the verb ser — "to be". For one person you say es ("he is" / "she is"); for more than one, son ("they are"). Mi padre es alto — "my father is tall". Mis hermanos son altos — "my brothers are tall".
Here is the important new rule, and it is the heart of today's lesson. A Spanish adjective changes its ending to agree with the person it describes. Describing a man, the adjective ends in -o: Mi padre es alto. Describing a woman, it ends in -a: Mi madre es alta. Describing more than one person, you add an -s: Mis primos son altos. The describing word bends to fit the person — that is agreement.
Some adjectives don't end in -o or -a at all. Azul (blue) is the same for a man or a woman — it only changes for "more than one", where it becomes azules. So ojos azules ("blue eyes") is already plural, because eyes come in twos.
| Español | Sounds like | English |
|---|---|---|
| Mi padre es alto. | mee PAH-dreh es AHL-to | My father is tall. |
| Mi madre es divertida. | mee MAH-dreh es dee-ver-TEE-dah | My mother is fun. |
| Mi hermana es rubia. | mee er-MAH-nah es ROO-byah | My sister is fair-haired. |
| Mi primo tiene ojos azules. | mee PREE-mo TYEH-neh O-hos ah-SOO-les | My cousin has blue eyes. |
| Mis abuelos son simpáticos. | mees ah-BWEH-los son seem-PAH-tee-kos | My grandparents are kind. |
The Spanish word moreno can describe dark hair, but it is also a warm, everyday way to describe someone with darker skin or a tan — said kindly, often affectionately. One word, stretching gently across hair, skin and sunshine.
Here is a small Spanish family. Each person is numbered. Pick a label below, then place it in the matching Pin slot. Two of the labels are not people on this tree at all — read each one before you place it.
A Spanish family tree is called un árbol genealógico — literally a "genealogical tree". The word árbol (tree) keeps its accent on the first syllable: AR-bol.
Fresh one. Write my parents in Spanish — two words. (More than one person.)
Fresh one. Write I have a brother in Spanish — three words. ("A" before a masculine word is un.)
Fresh one. "Kind" describing a man is simpático. Describing your aunt (a woman): Mi tía es ____. Write the one word that fits.
Pick one person — mi madre, mi hermano, whoever you like. Write two or three short sentences in Spanish about them. Use mi, use es or tiene, and try to make at least one adjective agree with whether they're a man or a woman. A model to lean on: Mi hermana es alta. Es divertida. Tiene ojos marrones.
strong You reached for mi and the verb es, which is exactly the spine of a description in Spanish — "my … is …". And where you matched the ending to the person — alta for a woman — that is the rule of today working in your own sentence.
try this One ending didn't quite match the person it was describing. When you describe a woman, the adjective leans towards -a; for a man, towards -o. Read your sentence back and ask, for each describing word: who is this about? Then let the ending follow.
to add One more line would round it off — something about their hair or eyes. Tiene ojos azules, or es morena. Small additions like that turn a sentence into a little portrait.
Hearing real Spanish — its rhythm, its warmth — does as much as any table of words. A few gentle ways in. Heavier titles flagged for a chat first.
Pick out the words for family members, and notice how the children describe each other.
You learned the family words in their -o / -a pairs, you can say "my" with mi and mis, you can count your brothers and sisters with tengo, and you met the rule that makes Spanish sing — the describing word bends to fit the person. Try one sentence aloud at dinner tonight, Florence. Mi familia es simpática.
