Family & People

Family is one of the first topics in any language course because it gives you the vocabulary to talk about the people closest to you. In this lesson, you will learn German family vocabulary, possessive pronouns, and how to talk about relationships.

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Immediate Family (Die Familie)

English	German	Gender	Pronunciation
family	die Familie	feminine	fah-mee-lee-eh
parents	die Eltern	plural	el-tern
father	der Vater	masculine	fah-ter
mother	die Mutter	feminine	moo-ter
son	der Sohn	masculine	zohn
daughter	die Tochter	feminine	tokh-ter
brother	der Bruder	masculine	broo-der
sister	die Schwester	feminine	shves-ter
child	das Kind	neuter	kint
children	die Kinder	plural	kin-der
baby	das Baby	neuter	bay-bee

Plural Forms

Singular	Plural	Pattern
der Vater	die Väter	umlaut
die Mutter	die Mütter	umlaut
der Sohn	die Söhne	umlaut + -e
die Tochter	die Töchter	umlaut
der Bruder	die Brüder	umlaut
die Schwester	die Schwestern	-n
das Kind	die Kinder	-er

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Extended Family

English	German	Gender	Pronunciation
grandparents	die Großeltern	plural	grohs-el-tern
grandfather	der Großvater / der Opa	masculine	grohs-fah-ter / oh-pah
grandmother	die Großmutter / die Oma	feminine	grohs-moo-ter / oh-mah
grandchild	das Enkelkind	neuter	en-kel-kint
grandson	der Enkel	masculine	en-kel
granddaughter	die Enkelin	feminine	en-kel-in
uncle	der Onkel	masculine	on-kel
aunt	die Tante	feminine	tan-teh
cousin (male)	der Cousin	masculine	koo-zang
cousin (female)	die Cousine	feminine	koo-zee-neh
nephew	der Neffe	masculine	nef-feh
niece	die Nichte	feminine	nikh-teh

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In-Laws and Step-Relations

German forms these with prefixes:

Prefix	Meaning	Example
Schwieger-	in-law	Schwiegermutter (mother-in-law)
Stief-	step-	Stiefvater (stepfather)
Halb-	half-	Halbbruder (half-brother)

English	German
father-in-law	der Schwiegervater
mother-in-law	die Schwiegermutter
son-in-law	der Schwiegersohn
daughter-in-law	die Schwiegertochter
brother-in-law	der Schwager
sister-in-law	die Schwägerin
stepfather	der Stiefvater
stepmother	die Stiefmutter
stepson	der Stiefsohn
stepdaughter	die Stieftochter
half-brother	der Halbbruder
half-sister	die Halbschwester

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Relationships and Marital Status

German	English
der Ehemann / der Mann	husband
die Ehefrau / die Frau	wife
der Freund	boyfriend / male friend
die Freundin	girlfriend / female friend
der Partner / die Partnerin	partner (m/f)
der Verlobte / die Verlobte	fiance / fiancee
ledig	single (unmarried)
verheiratet	married
geschieden	divorced
verwitwet	widowed
verlobt	engaged

Note: "Freund" can mean both "friend" and "boyfriend". Context makes the difference. "Das ist mein Freund" usually means "This is my boyfriend" while "Das ist ein Freund von mir" means "This is a friend of mine".

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Possessive Pronouns (Possessivpronomen)

Possessive pronouns show who something belongs to. In German, they change form to match the gender of the noun they describe.

The Base Forms

Person	Possessive	English
ich (I)	mein	my
du (you, informal)	dein	your
er (he)	sein	his
sie (she)	ihr	her
es (it)	sein	its
wir (we)	unser	our
ihr (you, plural informal)	euer	your
sie (they)	ihr	their
Sie (you, formal)	Ihr	your (formal)

How Possessives Change for Gender

The possessive pronoun takes endings based on the gender and case of the noun it modifies. Here are the nominative forms:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
my	mein Vater	meine Mutter	mein Kind	meine Kinder
your (informal)	dein Vater	deine Mutter	dein Kind	deine Kinder
his	sein Vater	seine Mutter	sein Kind	seine Kinder
her	ihr Vater	ihre Mutter	ihr Kind	ihre Kinder
our	unser Vater	unsere Mutter	unser Kind	unsere Kinder
your (formal)	Ihr Vater	Ihre Mutter	Ihr Kind	Ihre Kinder

Pattern: Masculine and neuter nominative have no ending (mein, dein, sein). Feminine and plural add -e (meine, deine, seine). This is the same pattern as "ein/eine".

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Talking About Your Family

Saying Who Is in Your Family