What is a french word family

What do French people call their family?

One of the interesting things about la famille and French family vocabulary is that the word parent means not just “parent” as in mother or father but also “relative.” It can be both a noun and an adjective.

How do you describe your family in French?

To describe your family you can say: Dans ma famille il y a mon beau-père ma mère et deux frères – In my family there is my step-father my mother and two brothers Dans ma famille il y a mon père ma mère et trois sœurs – In my family there is my father mother and three sisters.

The French word for “family” is la famille. It’s a feminine word and can also be used to say “relatives” in some cases. If you want to talk about your family specifically you can say ma famille.

How do you say family words in French?

Is family in French singular or plural?

Like English all French nouns have a number: singular (one) as in la famille (the family) or plural (more than one) as in les enfants (the children).

Is family in French masculine or feminine?

‘Family’ in French is la famille (pronounced la fam mee) and the noun is feminine because the article in front of the noun – la- is feminine.

How is your family in France?

Comment va ta famille ?

How would you describe your family?

Words to Describe Family Relationships

• adoring.
• affectionate.
• boisterous.
• brotherly.
• close-knit.
• cohesive.
• competitive.
• devoted.

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What is family short essay?

A family is a social group of people who stay together under the same roof in a society. It comprises two or more adults like parents and grandparents and young children who are bound in a relationship by birth or blood. They are collectively known as family members.

What is family in different languages?

How to Say Family in European Languages

Language	Translation	Pronunciation
French	famille	fam-eel
German	familie	fa-meel-ye
Greek	oikogéneia	ay-ko-ye-nee-ya
Hungarian	család	shah-lahd

Who are the members of the family?

Members of the immediate family may include spouses parents grandparents brothers sisters sons and daughters. Members of the extended family may include aunts uncles cousins nephews nieces and siblings-in-law.

How do you greet a family member in French?

The most important French greetings include bonjour (hello) enchanté(e) (nice to meet you) bonsoir (good evening/hello) salut (hi) coucou (hey) Ça fait longtemps dis donc (long time no see) Âllo (hello) Ça va? (how are you?) tu vas bien? (have you been well?) quoi de neuf? (what’s up?) au revoir!

How do you say my family?

What do French moms call their daughters?

Parents as well as grandparents and other adults also call boys mon fils (pronounced: mohn feece) meaning ‘my son’ or ‘my boy ’ and girls ma fille (pronounced: mah fee) meaning ‘my daughter’ or ‘my girl. ‘

What is your name in French?

If you’d like to say “What is your name?” in French you generally have two options. To pose the question formally you’d say “Comment vous-appelez vous? Speaking informally you can simply ask “Comment t’appelles-tu?”

Is Ma famille il or Elle?

Famille is a feminine singular noun so needs an appropriate possessive adjective to describe it. Therefore “ma”. If it were a masculine noun it would require “mon”. thanks!

How do you use le les in French?

le la and les are the french equivalents for the. As French makes a distinction between “masculine and feminine objects” people use le for masculine things/persons and la for feminine things/persons. However in the plural only les is used whatever the gender is.

What is the difference between LE and LA in French?

With masculine singular nouns → use le. With feminine singular nouns → use la. With nouns starting with a vowel most nouns beginning with h and the French word y → use l’. With plural nouns → use les.

What does La Famille refer to?

The french word for family is la famille. Un membre de la famille is a family member in French. Un arbre généalogique is the French equivalent of the English family tree.

Is Oncle MASC or FEM?

Family Vocabulary in French

Masculine	Feminine	Plural
L’oncle [uncle]	La tante [aunt]	Les oncles et tantes [aunts and uncles]
Le neveu [nephew]	La nièce [niece]	Les neveux et nièces [nieces and nephews]
Le cousin [male cousin]	La cousine [female cousin]	Les cousins [cousins]
L’époux [husband]	L’épouse [wife]

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Is Ecole MASC or FEM?

The word école is a feminine noun. If you would like to say ‘a school’ be sure to use the feminine indefinite article une: une école….

How do you answer your family?

Why is a family important?

Family is the single most important influence in a child’s life. From their first moments of life children depend on parents and family to protect them and provide for their needs. … They are a child’s first teachers and act as role models in how to act and how to experience the world around them.

WHAT IS A in France?

pl n. 1 the text of a part of an actor etc. 2 the text or lyrics of a song as opposed to the music. 3 angry speech (esp. in the phrase have words with someone)

Who is your family?

Your family members are also called your relatives. You have an immediate or nuclear family and an extended family. Your immediate family includes your father mother and siblings. Your extended family includes all of the people in your father and mother’s families.

What type of word is family?

The word ‘family’ is a word that has two parts of speech it can be used as both a noun and an adjective. As a noun the group of words that name things ‘family’ means the group of people consisting of one or two parents and any kids.

How do you describe a happy family?

So what is your definition of a happy family? A happy family is a family who stays respectfully close & playful chooses laughter daily and doesn’t sweat the small stuff they express forgiveness soon speak kindly about and to each other and support each other’s big & small moments.

What are five sentences about family?

Five sentences on my family are given below :

• My family is a small and a sweet family consisting of four people that is mom dad me and my elder sister.
• My parents cares for me and my elder sister a lot. …
• My mom is a housewife. …
• My father is a businessman.

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What can I write about family?

Writing prompt: Imagine you have to describe your family to someone who’s never met them before. What makes your family unique and different from others? What are your family’s most important traditions values and stories? What do you most love about them and what frustrates you the most about them?

How do you explain family to a child?

Every person is a part of a family. A family is two or more people who are connected by biology adoption marriage or strong emotional bonds. Families can look very different from each other but all family members usually love and care for each other very much.

What are the 5 major language families?

Glottolog 4.4 (2021) lists the following as the largest families of 8494 languages:

• Atlantic–Congo (1 403 languages)
• Austronesian (1 274 languages)
• Indo-European (583 languages)
• Sino-Tibetan (497 languages)
• Afro-Asiatic (377 languages)
• Nuclear Trans–New Guinea (317 languages)
• Pama–Nyungan (250 languages)

How do you say family in Thai?

What is an example of a language family?

A language family is a group of different languages that all descend from a particular common language. … One example is the Germanic languages. Linguists generally describe Germanic languages in three groups: West Germanic North Germanic and East Germanic. The West Germanic group includes German English and Dutch.

What makes a family a family?

A family is a group of people going through the world together. … Some families include single-parent adoptive or LGBT families children living with grandparents children living with large extended families including grandparents aunts uncles and cousins and children splitting time among different family members.

Family Words in French Part 1 (basic French vocabulary from Learn French With Alexa)

lingoni FRENCH (18) – Family Members – A1

The French Family Band live from our Lounge Room (Nashville) #29

Family Life in France | Easy French 85

The French family in a few figures :

Then, as in other countries, there are three types of families:

The nuclear family: two parents and one or more children, living together under the same roof.

 

Single-parent family: a parent with one or more children, living under the same roof

 

A blended family: one of the parents with one or more children from a first union with another person with whom the parent is in a couple, paired or married. This person may also have children from a first union.

 

I’m going to base myself on a study by INSEE, which is the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, released in January 2014 to tell you about the family landscape in France.

The type of family that is most common in France is the nuclear family: 68% of children live with both parents under the same roof.

Then there is the single-parent family: 21% of children live with one of their parents.

And lastly, there is the blended family: 11% of children live in a reconstituted family.
 

The fertility rate in France is declining every year, and in 2020 it will be 1.84 children per woman.

What does the word «family» mean to the French? :

For three-quarters of the French, the word «family» often refers to the group of parents and children. This is the family nucleus, which is the most important to them. 

It is this family group that they can rely on. It is in this group that the strongest family ties are found. 

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the French don’t love their grandparents, uncles and aunts. No, it doesn’t. And it’s different in every family, of course. But for most French people, the family nucleus consists of parents and children.

What unites a French family? :

Being a family in France does not mean that we share the same values. Indeed, we share the same blood, but not necessarily the same opinions and values. The subjects that divide French families the most are (unsurprisingly) politics, religion and money. Again, this is not the same in all French families, nor should we generalize, it is a trend.

On the other hand, what unites French families are their hobbies and interests. 

Another thing that unites French families is solidarity. It doesn’t matter if we don’t share the same values, if we have some discord, we don’t leave a member of our family in need. There is a lot of mutual aid in French families.

What is the role of the father and mother in France? :

So the role of mother and father in France has changed a lot over the years. However, we cannot say that we have found a perfect balance between these two roles. 

The new French father no longer has the role of the head of the family, who works to support his family while his wife looks after the home and has no say in the matter.

The French father can express his feelings and emotions freely, and is sensitive and caring for his children. He is more involved in his children’s lives and in some cases, more rarely, he shares household chores equally with his partner.

For their part, women are more active professionally. Most have a professional career. However, they remain torn between work and family life. The home and children remain mostly the responsibility of the woman, who must work both at work and at home. This is referred to as mental load, i.e. the cognitive load due to the responsibility a person has at work plus the responsibility for managing the home. 

Of course, I repeat myself, this is a trend, it is not the same everywhere. We should not generalize.

Family Vocabulary :

Family relationships :

• A father 
• A mother
• An only child

• A brother
• A sister

• The elder
• The cadet(s)
• The youngest child

• Twins

• The mother-in-law
• The father-in-law
• The half-sister
• The half-brother

• The grandfather (Grandpa, Papi)
• The grandmother (Grandma, Granny)
• The grandson
• The granddaughter

• The great-grandfather
• The great-grandmother
• The great-grandson
• The great-granddaughter

• The aunt
• The uncle
• The cousin
• The cousin
• The nephew
• The niece

• The godfather
• The godmother
• The godson
• The goddaughter

• Parents-In-laws
• The father-in-law
• The mother-in-law
• The daughter-in-law
• The son-in-law 

Now it’s your turn to tell me what families are like in your country, write it down as a comment!

See you soon for new adventures, in French of course! 🇫🇷

How do you say “family” in French? It’s a question that seems pretty simple, but as is the case with families in general, sometimes things can get a little complicated!

Let’s look at some common French family vocabulary and clear up some confusion about things like talking about family members in French and how to differentiate between step-family and in-laws.

How do you say “family” in French?

The French word for “family” is la famille. It’s a feminine word and can also be used to say “relatives” in some cases.

If you want to talk about your family specifically, you can say ma famille. The pronoun “ma” is used because famille is a feminine word.

Family members in French

• les parents – parents. This word can also be used to mean “relatives”, so pay attention to context.
• la mère – mother
• Maman – Mom/Mum
• le père – father
• Papa – Dad/Da
• l’enfant/les enfants – child/children
• le fils – son
• la fille – daughter
• l’époux/l’épouse – spouse
• La famille étendue/ la famille élargie – extended family

Siblings

• le frère – brother
• un frérot – an affectionate term for “brother”. Can also be slang for bro/bruv.
• un frangin – an affectionate term for brother.
• le demi-frère – half-brother (a brother who shares one biological parent with you)
• la sœur – sister
• une frangine – an affectionate term for sister
• la demi-sœur – half-sister (a sister who shares one biological parent with you)

Note that there is no single French word for “sibling” or “siblings”. You have to specify if you’re talking about a  brother or sister, or you can say either mes frères, mes sœurs, or mes frères et soeurs.

The word la fratrie may also be used, but this is closer to “the children” in meaning.

Other immediate family members

• un tuteur/une tutrice – legal guardian
• un animal de compagnie/un animal domestique – a pet

Couples

• le couple – the couple
• le mari – the husband
• la femme – the wife
• le/la fiancé(e) – fiancé
• le/la conjoint(e) – formal name for domestic partner
• le copain/la copine – boyfriend/girlfriend

Note that in many French families with children, the parents may not be married.  In some cultures, this might be seen as controversial, but in France it’s not an issue.

Grandparents and grandchildren

• les grands-parents – grandparents
• la grand-mère – grandmother. Note that while this is a feminine word, grand doesn’t take an e at the end.
• Mamie – Grandma/Gran. As in English, there can be some exceptions and variants for this term, but this is the most common way for someone to address their grandmother in France. Ex: Salut Mamie, comment vas-tu aujourd’hui ? (Hi Grandma, how are you doing today?)
• le grand-père – grandfather
• Pépé/Papy – Grandpa/Granddad. As in English, there can be some exceptions and variants for this term, but these are the most common ways for someone to address their grandfather in France. Ex: On fait un petit tour en village, Papy ? (Shall we take a walk around the village, Granddad?)
• les petits-enfants – grandchildren
• le petit-fils -grandson
• la petite-fille – granddaughter
• les arrière-grands-parents – great-grandparents
• l’arrière-grand-père – great-grandfather
• l’arrière-grand-mère – great-grandmother
• les arrière-petits-enfants – great grandchildren

Aunts, uncles, cousins….

la tante – aunt. Note that this word is almost always preceded by an article or possessive pronoun. For instance, in English you might say, “Aunt Judy is coming over.” But in French, you’d more likely hear, La tante Judy vient chez nous or Ta tante Judy vient chez nous, not Tante on its own.

(une) tatie – aunt/auntie. This is an informal term of endearment for an aunt or great-aunt. It’s not used by everyone, but you will probably come across it. Note that unlike tante, this word isn’t always preceded by an article or possessive pronoun, and can be used to directly address one’s aunt.  Ex: Tatie Simone, la tante Clara nous attend au cafe. (Auntie Simone, Aunt Clara is waiting for us at the cafe.)

l’oncle – uncle. Note that this word is almost always preceded by an article or possessive pronoun. For instance, in English you might say, “Uncle Charles is coming over.” But in French, you’d more likely hear, L’oncle Charles vient chez nous or Ton oncle Charles vient chez nous, not Oncle on its own.

(un) tonton – an informal, somewhat childish term for an uncle or a great-uncle, somewhere between “Uncle” and “Unky”. Note that unlike oncle, this word isn’t preceded by an article or possessive pronoun, and can be used to directly address one’s uncle. Ex: Voici mon oncle Pierre. Tonton Pierre, je te présente Sylvie, ma copine. (This is my uncle Pierre. Uncle Pierre, I’d like you to meet Sylvie, my girlfriend.)

le neveu – nephew

la nièce – niece

un cousin/une cousine – a cousin. As with some other words on this list, this word is usually preceded by an article or possessive pronoun.  Ex: La Cousine Bette est un superbe livre écrit par Honoré de Balzac. (Cousin Bette is an amazing book by Honoré de Balzac.)

Godparents and godchildren

• le parrain –  godfather. Even if you’re not familiar with the Catholic practice of naming godparents (usually relatives or close family friends who would care for a child if their parents died – at least traditionally speaking), you’ve probably come across this word, since it’s the French title of the film The Godfather.
• la marraine – godmother. Fellow fairy tale fans, note that this word is not the same when you’re talking about a fairy godmother: that would be une bonne fée.
• le filleul – godson
• la filleule – goddaughter

Step-family and in-laws in French

You may wonder why these two categories of family members are grouped together. That’s because in French, both are said the same way:

• les beaux-parents – mother- and father -in-law OR stepparents
• la belle-mère – mother-in-law OR stepmother
• le beau-père – father-in-law OR stepfather
• le beau-frère – brother-in-law OR stepbrother
• la belle-sœur – sister-in-law OR stepsister
• le beau-fils – son-in-law OR stepson
• la belle-fille – daughter-in-law OR stepdaughter
• la belle-famille – in-laws or stepfamily. Note that it is far more common to hear this word used to mean “in-laws”, though.

Associating both of these kinds of family members with the word beau or belle (beautiful, lovely, handsome) probably came from the fact that the initial intention was to put them in a positive light…but it can lead to a lot of confusion.

For example, if I want to talk about my half-brother and my brother-in-law in the same sentence in French, I could say: Lors de mon dernier voyage aux États-Unis, j’ai vu mon beau-frère et mon beau-frère. (On my last trip to the US, I saw my stepbrother and my brother-in-law.)

Luckily, there are ways to avoid confusion, both as a speaker and a listener.

If you’re listening to someone else, try to pay attention to context. For instance, if the person talking is a child, it’s likely they mean “stepbrother”, since most of the time siblings are close enough in age that the child probably doesn’t have any married brothers or sisters. Of course, that’s not a total certainty.

If you’re reading a story, you can also use context. for instance, the wicked stepmother is a typical trope in fairy tales, so if you come across the word belle-mère in a French fairy tale, it probably doesn’t mean “mother-in-law”.  

On the other hand, in more contemporary storytelling, the difficult mother-in-law is a common trope, so if you watch a French sitcom or sketch comedy show and hear someone complaining about their belle-mère, that’s who they probably mean.

When you’re talking to a French person, the good news is that you can always ask for clarification – even simply by using intonation: For instance: – Mon beau-frère est un passionné de veilles voitures.   – Ton beau-frère ? – Oui, le mari de ma sœur. (“My beau-frère is a fan of old cars.” “Your beau-frère?” “My sister’s husband.”)

Some people may even clarify in advance, the same as you might in English. It’s not uncommon to hear something like: Nous sommes partis en vacances avec mon frère et sa femme (We went on vacation with my brother and his wife) or La femme de mon frère travaille dans le IT. (My brother’s wife works in IT.)

There are a two words that only apply to stepfamily members or in-laws, though. These are:

un gendre – a very common word for son-in-law

une bru – a less common, somewhat old-fashioned term for “daughter-in-law”

How to address family members in French

As you can see from the list, in most cases, you have to use an article or possessive pronoun when talking about family members in a general way in French. Some family members can also be called by their title in lieu of their name.

For instance, although this would be considered formal or old-fashioned, a French person could directly address their mother as Mère or their grandfather as Grand-père. You could say this is the English equivalent of someone addressing their mom as “Mother” rather than “Mom” or “Mum”, and “Grandfather” rather than “Grandpa”, “Granddad”, and so on. (These family members are more typically directly addressed as Maman and Papy, respectively.)

The French family members that you can normally do this with are:

• Mère
• Père
• Grand-mère
• Grand-père

In addition, you may hear frère or soeur used either abstractly, as in poetry, or as a religious title for a monk or nun.

In most other cases, all other French family members’ titles would have to be used with an article or possessive pronoun.

That said, there are some exceptions. For instance, Scrooge McDuck (Picsou) is a very popular character in France. Picsou’s nephews often address him directly as Oncle Picsou.

Typically, though, when addressing a family member directly in French, you either omit their title or use a more affectionate one.

For example, my French husband used to call his uncle Tonton Yves when talking to him directly as a child. Now that he’s an adult, he just calls him by his first name, Yves.

On the other hand, when he speaks to his mom, he always calls her Maman. His grandmother is always addressed as Mamie, and he always called his great-aunt Tatie.

Keep in mind that this is just a general rule. Each family is different, and some may not even use typical or traditional family member titles in the first place, but rather nicknames or the like. You can think of this the way many people in English have fond nicknames for their grandparents – for example, instead of Granddad or Grandpa, they might say “Pop-Pop.”

The most important preposition for talking about family relationships in French

In English, we use the possessive form a lot when talking about family: My mother’s brother; My uncle’s cat; My sisters’ farm, etc.

The same goes for French, which means you’ll often see and use the preposition de when family is being described or discussed: le frère de ma mère; le chat de mon oncle; la ferme de mes sœurs, etc.

French family vocabulary

Here are some common family-related words and expressions you’ll come across in French.

la famille – the family. Note that this word can also have a more figurative meaning, or a scientific one or mathematical one. You can visit this helpful webpage to find a list of famille’s many meanings.  

la famille [nom] – the ___ family. Example: C’est une famille presque aussi bizarre que la famille Addams. (This family is nearly as bizarre as the Addams Family.)

Les [nom] – The ___s : Ex: Voici nos voisins, les Dupont. (Those are our neighbors, the Duponts.)  Note that, unlike in English, while the article in French is plural, the family’s name stays singular.

en famille – among family OR “family” as an adjective. For example: Hier soir, on a dîné en famille. (Last night, we had a family dinner.)

un foyer – household

un ménage – household

une famille monoparentale – a single-parent family

une famille d’adoption – a found family (a group of friends who become like your family)

une famille d’accueil – a foster family. Note that this term can also sometimes be used to denote a host family, when dealing with exchange students, for instance.

une famille recomposée – a blended family (a family where the parents have remarried/gotten together and now there are step-parents, step-siblings, etc.)

un fils adopté/un fils adoptif/une fille adoptée/une fille adoptive – adopted son/adopted daughter. Ex: C’est le fils adoptif de mon oncle. (He’s my uncle’s adopted son.) Note that, as in English,there is nothing wrong with specifying that someone is adopted, in some contexts. But family is family and so it isn’t polite or normal or necessary to point out that someone is adopted in most situations.

avoir un air de famille (avec) – to have a family resemblance (with). Ex: Ça se voit que c’est ton cousin, vous avez un vrai air de famille ! (You can tell that you’re cousins; you two really have a strong family resemblance!)

C’est de famille. – It runs in the family.

You can find more family-related French words and expressions in this Wiktionnaire entry.  

How can I learn about French family life?

If you’d like to learn more about family life in France, our list of statistics about France is a good place to start.  

Once you’ve learned the basics, you can gain more insights by reading books in French and watching French movies and TV shows – after all, families of one kind or another are kind of ubiquitous.

An easy way to practice French family vocabulary is to describe your family, either written down on your own, or to online friends and conversation partners.  You can also imagine a family and write about it in French!

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How do you say family in French and what are some vocabulary words for French family members?

The French word for family is “la famille” (pronounced “la famij” or “la fam-ee”). Vocabulary words for family members are: la mère (mother), le père (father), la soeur (sister), le frère (brother), la fille (daugher), le garçon (son), la tante (aunt), l’oncle (uncle), la grand-mère (grandmother) and le grand-père (grandfather).

This page will explain how to say the French family members (les membres de la famille) in detail. If you ever travel to France you will quickly discover that family values are very important to the French people.

These vocabulary lists cover the immediate family, extended family, specific words for steps and in-laws as well as words concerning adoption, family trees and genealogy.

In French, “les parents” means both parents and relatives. Hence, “J’ai des parents à Marseille” translates to “I have relatives in Marseille.

In addition to this list, you may also find the list at Frenchtoday.com to be very helpful!

How to pronounce famille in French

The French word for family is “la famille”. A very common mistake is for people to pronounce the LL’s. Do not pronounce the LL’s.

The LL’s sound like “ee” as in feet. Hence the pronunciation sounds like “fa-mee”. Here are some samples of how to pronounce famille correctly on Forvo.

This quick video also does a great job teaching the proper pronunciation.

French vocabulary for the immediate family

The following list is for the members of the immediate family. The “è” on the words père (father), mère (mother) and frère (brother) has an “eh” sound.

The pronunciation of soeur is quite tricky. Here are some samples of how to pronounce seour on Forvo.

For the word fille (daughter), don’t pronounce the LL’s. The pronunciation of fille is “fee”, with a slight y sound at the end. Here are some samples of how to pronounce fille on Forvo.

• father le père
• mother la mère
• son le fils
• daughter la fille
• brother le frère
• sister la soeur
• husband le mari
• wife la femme, l’épouse
• husband l’époux, le mari

French extended family members

The following is a list of extended family members. Notice that the word for grandmother is “la grand-mère”. Be sure not to add an -e to “grand” to make it feminine. This would be a mistake.

For the great grandparents, attached the word “arrière”. Hence, “arrière-grand-père” is great grandfather and “arrière-grand-mère” is great grandmother.

• grandparents les grand-parents
• grandfather le grand-père
• grandmother la grand-mère
• great-grandfather l’arrière-grand-père
• great-grandmother l’arrière-grand-mère
• grandchildren les petits-enfants
• grandson le petit-fils
• granddaughter la petite-fille
• uncle l’oncle
• aunt la tante
• great-uncle le grand-oncle
• great-aunt la grand-tante
• nephew le neveu
• niece la nièce
• male cousin le cousin
• female cousin la cousine

French vocabulary for the in-laws and step family

French vocabulary for the in-laws and step family can become quite confusing. La belle-famille refers to the in-laws.

When describing family members by marriage, the French do not distinguish between in-laws and step.

For example, “le beau-père” means both father-in-law and step-father.

Interestingly, “le demi-frère” translates to both half brother and step brother. Logically, “la demi-soeur” translates to half sister and step sister.

• parents-in-law les beaux-parents
• father-in-law, step-father le beau-père
• mother-in-law, step-mother la belle-mère
• son-in-law, step-son le beau-fils
• daughter-in-law, step-daughter la belle-fille
• half-brother, step brother le demi-frère
• half-sister, step sister la demi-soeur

Special words for the family

French has some special family terms which are necessary to learn.

l’aîné – As a noun, l’ainé(e) means eldest child. As an adjective it means ‘older than’ or ‘your senior’.

• Marie est l’ainee de la famille. Elle a 35 ans. Marie is the eldest child in the family. She’s 35 years-old.
• Joseph est mon aîné de cinq ans. Joseph is five years older than me.

Le cadet – As a noun, le cadet/la cadette means the youngest child. As an adjective, it means younger. Le cadet can also refer to the second-born child.

• Notre cadet habite encore à la maison. Our youngest child still lives at home.
• Ma soeur cadette s’appelle Julie. My younger sister’s name is Julie.

Le benjamin – Le benjamin/la benjamine also refers to the youngest child in the family.

• Sophie est la benjamine de la famille : elle n’a que trois ans. Sophie is the youngest in the family. She’s only three years-old.

Adoption and fostering

The following list covers adoption and fostering. French culture places a heavy emphasis on the parents.

Hence, you’ll often hear French people referring to “mon parrain” (my godfather) and “ma marraine” (my godmother.

• adoptive father – père adoptif
• adoptive mother – mère adoptive
• biological parents – les parents biologiques
• biological father – le père biologique
• biological mother – la mère biologique
• foster family – la famille d’accueil 
• foster mother – la mère de la famille d’accueil
• foster father – le père de la famille d’accueil
• godfather – le parrain
• godmother – la marraine 
• godson – le filleul
• goddaughter – la filleule 

How to introduce family members

The following list of short phrases can come in handy for introducing family members in social situations.

“Je vous présente” is formal and translates to “I introduce you to”. The informal version for people you know better is “Je te présent”.

• This my wife. Je vous présente ma femme.
• This is my husband. Je vous présente mon mari.
• These are my kids. Je vous présente mes enfants.
• This is my daugher/son. Je vous présente ma fille/mon fils.
• This is my sister/brother. Je vous présente ma soeur/mon frère.
• This is my mother/father. Je vous présente mon père/ma mère.

Genealogy and distant relatives

If you are traveling to France with the intention of looking for distant relatives the following list covering genealogy and family trees will come in handy.

• genealogy la généalogie
• direct line of descent la filiation
• family tree un arbre généalogique
• ancestry, bloodline, lineage l’ascendance (f)
• generation une génération
• ancestors les ancêtres, les aïeux
• distant relative un(e) parent(e) éloigné(e)
• relationship, kinship la parenté
• first cousin un(e) cousin(e) germain
• second cousin un(e) cousin(e) issu de germain
• once removed au deuxième degré
• paternal (adj) paternel(le)
• maternal (adj) maternel(le)
• DNA le AND

Family in French – Summary Table

Here are ways of saying family members in French organized by each person with comments and pronunciation tips.

French	English	Comments
la famille	family	Pronounced «la fam-ee». Don’t pronounce the LL’s.
la mère	mother	è is pronounced «eh». This is the accent grave.
le père	father	è is pronounced «eh». This is the accent grave. Pronunciation clip here.
le frère	brother	è is pronounced «eh». This is the accent grave.
la soeur	sister	Pronunciation clip here.
le fils	son	Pronounced «le fees». Don’t say the -L.
la fille	daughter	Pronounced «la fee-ya» with a slight ya. Pronunciation clip here.
la grand-mère	grandmother	Do not add an -e to grand.
le grand-père	grandfather	Pronunciation clip here.
l’oncle	uncle	Pronunciation clip here.
la tante	aunt	Pronunciation clip here.
le cousin, la cousine	cousin	Presented both masculine and feminine forms. Cousin: nasal «in»; Cousine: pronounce the -n.

Related lessons:

• conversation lesson covering the family
• French baby vocabulary
• marriage vocabulary
• songs for learning French

More resources:

• La famille flashcards (Quizlet)
• French family vocabulary (Frenchcrazy)
• How to talk about your family (FluentU)
• La Famille – LePointduFLE.net
• Family Vocabulary – TV5Monde

The French word for family is
famille

Gender

The gender of famille is feminine. E.g. la famille.

Plural

The plural of famille is familles.

French Definition

family
1. n. Famille.
My family.
Ma famille.
The two families are totally different.
Les deux familles sont complètement différentes.
Family is very important to me.
La famille est très importante pour moi.
2. n. (Biologie) Famille (rang taxinomique).
3. adj. Pour les familles, aussi bon pour les enfants que les adultes.
A family movie.

Translations for family and their definitions

famille
1. n. family (group of related people)
2. n. (biology) family

Pronunciation

Dictionary

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Start learning French vocabulary

If you’re learning to speak French, you might find yourself talking about la famille among friends and relatives quite a lot. To simplify the learning for you, this article first introduces an overview of close and extended family members in French, then clarifies some of the common misconceptions and differences between the English and French expressions. Finally, you are presented with a sample dialogue on the topic of family.

La Famille Proche (Close Family Members)

As you will see, there are a few similarities between some of the English and French vocabulary about family that might help your understanding and memorization. You might also note commonalities between the two genders, as in some cases it is possible to simply add an «e» to the end of a word to change it from masculine to feminine.

La Famille Etendue (Extended Family)

Famille par Mariage (Family by Marriage) / La Famille Recomposée (Blended Family)

In French, step-family and family-in-law are labeled using the same terms: beau- or belle- plus that family member:

French does not have a special word for a step-sibling. The dictionary would say un beau-frère and une belle-soeur or un demi-frère and une demi-soeur (the same as half-brother or half-sister), but in everyday French, you might also use a phrase like quasi frère or quasi soeur (almost brother, almost sister) or explain your relationship using your stepparent.

Other Family Terms

Parents vs. Relatives

The phrase les parents usually refers to the parents, as in «mom and dad.» However, when used as generic terms, un parent and une parente, the meaning changes into that of a «relative.»

Using parent/parente can become confusing in some sentence structures. Note the use of the word des in the second sentence:

• Mes parents sont en Angleterre. My parents [my mom and dad] are in England.
• J’ai des parents en Angleterre. I have some relatives in England.

Because of the confusion, French speakers don’t use un parent and une parente as often as English speakers do the word “relatives.” Instead, you will hear them use the word famille. It’s singular and feminine.

• Ma famille vient d’Alsace. My family is from Alsace.

You may add the adjective éloigné(e) (distant) to make the distinction, as in:

• J’ai de la famille (éloignée) en Belgique. I have relatives in Belgium.

Or, you can be more specific about identifying relationships, as in:

• J’ai un cousin aux Etats-Unis. I have a cousin in the U.S.
• J’ai un cousin éloigné aux Etats-Unis. I have a distant cousin in the U.S.

In French, this means s/he is not necessarily a first cousin (child of a parent’s sibling), but could be the person’s a second or third cousin.

Common Confusions

It might also be a good reminder that the adjectives “grand” and “petit” in family vocabulary don’t pertain to people’s sizes. They are rather indicators of age.

Similarly, the adjectives “beau” and “belle” don’t mean beautiful when describing family relationships, but are used for “in-law” or “step” family.

Family Vocabulary in Dialogue

To aid in learning French family vocabulary, you can view the terms we learned above in a simple dialogue, as in this example where Camille et Anne parlent de leurs familles (Camille and Ann are talking about their families).