Family Members in Spanish - Spanish Vocabulary

Family / La familia

Learning the Spanish words for members of the family can seem complicated owing to the fact that almost all of these words do not share many similarities with the equivalent English words that you already know… however, in reality, it is really quite easy to learn them once you put your mind to it! Despite the fact that they may be different, they are also quite simple and follow certain patterns which you can identify in order to make it easier to learn them.

There are lots of ways in which it might turn out to be important to talk about your family in Spanish. First of all, it is always one of the things that people want to know about you when you first meet them – whether you have any brothers or sisters, if you have a step family or some in laws, and so forth, so it is good to be able to talk about them. Of course, any member of your family might come up in conversation at any time, as you might want to tell a funny anecdote about the time that your uncle got drunk at Christmas or what your brother told you when you spoke via Skype yesterday. It may even come in handy for business, for example if a Spanish speaking client asks you what kind of product they should get to suit their grandmother or their son. Plus you might want to find out about the people that you are meeting during your Spanish course too: for example, if you take one of our Spanish with volunteering courses and end up helping some people out, you might want to ask about their home situation and what sort of family they have. And of course you will need to know how to refer to certain people around the house if you are staying with a host family!

This list which we have put together for you to read shows you all of the main family ties in Spanish with the English equivalent so that you know what they mean. We will also show you some of the most commonly used indirect family ties so that you can talk about the extended family relationships as well. You will know right away to whom your Spanish friends refer to when they talk about their prima, their abuelo or their suegra, and there will be no confusion when you tell them about your family either. I am sure that you will be able to make the most of it and form some great conversations when you find yourself in social situations with Spanish speakers!