Asking about someones family: Family members and relatives

💬 padres means "parents", not "fathers". The masculine plural covers mixed groups. For relatives in general, use parientes.

🇲🇽 Phrases built on tu madre are classic insults in Mexico, so out of context it can sound like the start of one. In a full question like ¿Cómo está tu mamá? it's fine, and mamá feels safer.

💬 The h is always silent: (ehr-MAH-noh). Same in hija and hijo.

💬 hermanos can mean "brothers" or "siblings" of mixed gender. The same pattern works for hijos "children" and tíos "aunts and uncles".

💬 The h is silent and the j sounds like a breathy English h: (EE-ho).

💬 Use hijos when you mean someone's own children. niños means "kids" in general, not specifically yours.

🇲🇽 esposo is the everyday word in Mexico. You'll also hear marido, which sounds a bit more colloquial.

🇲🇽 esposa is standard. mujer "woman" is also used to mean "wife" (mi mujer), but it can sound old-fashioned or possessive to some ears.

🇲🇽 Grandparents are often central in Mexican families and frequently live with or near their children. Affectionate forms like abuelita "grandma" are very common.

💬 The accent splits the vowels into two beats: (TEE-oh), not (TYOH).

💬 Many family words switch -o for -a to go from male to female: primo to prima, tío to tía, nieto to nieta.

💬 parientes means "relatives", not "parents". Parents are padres.

💬 The accent matters: sí is "yes", while si without it means "if".

💬 tengo already means "I have", so yo "I" is usually left out. Swap in any relative: tengo una tía "I have an aunt".

💬 A yes/no question can be just a statement with rising tone; the opening ¿ warns you a question is coming. For the formal version, use ¿Tiene...?.

💬 cuántos matches what you're counting: ¿cuántos hermanos? but ¿cuántas hermanas?.

💬 hermanos covers brothers, or brothers and sisters together, so this one question asks about any siblings. Spanish doesn't need a word for "any" here.

💬 A woman says soy hija única. Unlike English, there's no un "a" before hijo: soy hijo único, not soy un hijo único.

💬 Swap the relative to reuse it: ¿Cuántos hijos tienes? "How many children do you have?". With a feminine word, use cuántas: ¿Cuántas hermanas tienes?.

💬 Questions like this skip unos "some". Spanish just says ¿tienes hijos? or ¿tienes hermanos?.

💬 un and una both mean "a": un goes with masculine words like hijo, and una with feminine words like hija.

💬 casado changes to casada when asking a woman. Marital status uses estar, not ser: estoy soltero "I'm single".

💬 A woman says estoy casada.

🇲🇽 Big families are common in Mexico, so expect follow-up questions and plenty of detail about cousins and aunts.

💬 pequeño becomes pequeña because familia is feminine. grande doesn't change. In Mexico, you'll often hear chica for "small" too.

💬 Literally "How does she call herself?" The same question works for him, her, or a formal you, so context tells you who's meant.

💬 This literally asks "How does your mother call herself?". Swap in anyone: ¿Cómo se llama tu hermano? "What's your brother's name?".

💬 ll sounds like the English y: (seh YAH-mah).

💬 vive can mean "he", "she", or "it lives". Context decides, so ¿Dónde vive? can also ask "Where does he/she live?".

💬 The x in México sounds like a breathy h: (MEH-hee-koh).