Spanish vocabulary · 16 words
Spanish family words, and how to talk about your family
The family words a beginner meets first in Spanish, in masculine and feminine pairs: hermano and hermana, abuelo and abuela. The list is short on purpose. With it come the two pets that usually count as family, and the small words that turn the nouns into sentences: mi and tu for whose, tengo and tiene for who has whom, and años for how old they are.
Good to know
- A masculine plural covers a mixed group: mis hermanos can mean my brothers or my brothers and sisters; mis padres is my parents.
- Age uses tener, not ser: tengo ocho años, mi hermana tiene diez años.
- mi and tu do not change for gender (mi madre, mi padre) and add -s in the plural: mis abuelos.
Family
| Spanish | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| familiafem. (la) | family | |
| madrefem. (la) | mother | |
| padremasc. (el) | father | |
| hermanomasc. (el) | brother | |
| hermanafem. (la) | sister | |
| abuelomasc. (el) | grandfather | |
| abuelafem. (la) | grandmother |
Pets
| Spanish | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| perromasc. (el) | dog | |
| gatomasc. (el) | cat |
Talking about your family
| Spanish | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| mi | my | |
| tu | your | |
| tengo | I have | |
| tienes | you have | |
| tiene | he/she has | |
| ¿cuántos? | how many? | |
| añosmasc. (el) | years |
Test yourself
Five of the 16 words on this page, meaning to word. Pick an answer to check it; nothing is saved.
1.Which Spanish word means "family"?
2.Which Spanish word means "brother"?
3.Which Spanish word means "grandmother"?
4.Which Spanish word means "my"?
5.Which Spanish word means "you have"?
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