Asking about someones family: Family members and relatives

💬 Padres looks like "fathers" but means "parents"; the masculine plural covers a mixed pair. Use parientes for relatives in general.

💬 The h is silent: (ehr-MAH-no). The same goes for hijo and hija, where only the j makes a sound.

💬 Hermanos can mean "brothers" or brothers and sisters together; only hermanas is all-female. The same goes for hijos, abuelos and tíos.

💬 The h is silent and the j is a throaty sound like clearing your throat: (EE-ho).

🇪🇸 When asking about someone's kids, Spaniards say ¿Tienes hijos? rather than using niños "children", which just means young kids in general.

🇪🇸 In Spain, mi marido is everyday speech; mi esposo sounds more formal there. Many couples also say mi pareja "my partner", whether married or not.

💬 Mujer means both "woman" and "wife"; mi mujer is "my wife". Esposa also exists but sounds more formal in Spain.

🇪🇸 Grandparents often look after grandchildren daily in Spain, so expect la abuela to come up a lot. Affectionately she's la abuelita or la yaya in Catalonia and Aragon.

🇪🇸 In Spain, tío and tía are also used to call friends "dude" or "mate", as in ¡Tío, qué fuerte! "Dude, that's crazy!"

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

💬 Parientes looks like "parents" but means "relatives"; parents are padres. Spaniards also often say mi familia for relatives in general.

💬 Mayor goes after the family word: mi hermano mayor "my older brother". It doesn't mean "mayor"; that's alcalde.

💬 Like mayor, it goes after the person: mi hermana menor "my younger sister". In casual speech you'll also hear mi hermano pequeño.

💬 A woman says hija única; both words switch to -a.

💬 Cuántos matches what you're counting: ¿Cuántos hermanos? but ¿Cuántas hermanas? with -as for female words.

💬 hermanos covers brothers and sisters together, so you don't need to ask about each separately. The same thing happens with hijos "children" and padres "parents".

💬 Use un before a male word and una before a female one: un hermano, una hermana. For "one" as a count it stays the same, so tengo un hermano also means "I have one brother".

💬 A woman says soy hija única, changing both words to end in -a.

💬 No word for "an" here: after soy, Spanish drops it before roles and descriptions. Same with soy profesor "I'm a teacher".

💬 The question word comes first and the verb goes to the end: ¿Cuántos hijos tienes? "How many children do you have?" works the same way.

🇪🇸 Asking about siblings is a normal, friendly early question in Spain, not seen as nosy. Expect to be asked back.

💬 hijos covers sons and daughters together, so it simply means 'children'. A group with even one boy takes the -os form.

💬 The describing word matches familia, which is a female word, so it's pequeña, not pequeño. The ñ sounds like the "ny" in canyon: (peh-KEH-nyah).

💬 Grande ends in -e, so it stays the same for male and female words: familia grande, hermano grande.

💬 Spanish says "how does she call herself" rather than "what's her name". Swap the person to ask about anyone: ¿Cómo se llama tu hermano?

💬 The person you're asking about goes at the end, after the verb: ¿Cómo se llama tu padre?

💬 To give your own name, change se llama to me llamo: Me llamo Ana "My name is Ana". The ll sounds like an English y: (YAH-mah).

💬 Spanish "has" years rather than "is" years old, so use tener: Tengo treinta años "I'm thirty". Watch the ñ: años means "years", but anos means "anuses".

💬 Never use es for age; it's always tiene. The años can't be dropped either: Tiene diez años, not Tiene diez.

💬 Use esta es when introducing a woman and este es for a man: Este es mi padre. For a group, say estos son "these are".

🇪🇸 This is how you'd introduce family to a friend in Spain. Expect a greeting with two kisses on the cheek, starting on the left, especially between women or a man and a woman.

💬 Tu and mi add an -s when the thing after them is plural: tu padre becomes tus padres, and mi abuelo becomes mis abuelos.

💬 The final d in Madrid is very soft or nearly dropped in Spain, close to (mah-DREE) or (mah-DREETH).