How to Talk About Your Parents and Siblings

Learn how to talk about your parents and siblings

Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Spanish by SpanishPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your parents and siblings in Spanish.

For example, "Yes. My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and me." is

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

Catalina Hurtado is at a coffee shop with her classmate, Silvia Ramírez Arce.

Catalina is showing some pictures to Silvia. She points to one of them and asks about the people visible in it.

Before you hear the conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

papá

"father"

papá

mamá

"mother"

mamá

hermano

"little brother"

hermano

hermana

"sister"

hermana

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.

Ready?

¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

Once more with the English translation.

¿Es tu familia?

"Is this your family?"

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

"Yes. My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and me."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Silvia asks,

"Is this your family?"

¿Es tu familia?

Let's start with the word familia, "family." Familia. Familia.

In Spanish, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Familia is feminine and singular — a fact that determines the form of other words in the sentence.

Before familia, is tu, "your." Tu. Tu.

Together, tu familia, "your family." Tu familia.

Moving to the start of the sentence, es, "is." Es. Es.

Es comes from the verb, ser, meaning "to be."

All together, it's ¿Es tu familia? This literally means "Is your family?" But it translates as "Is your family?"

Note “this” is understood from context.

Also, note the rising intonation of the sentence to indicate that it's a question. ¿Es tu familia?

Remember this question. You'll hear it again later.

Let's take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Catalina says,

"Yes. My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and me."

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

First is the expression, sí, meaning "yes." Sí. Sí.

It answers Silvia's yes-or-no question, "Is this your family?"

¿Es tu familia?

After this, Catalina points to the picture and says,

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

First is Mi papá. "My father." Mi papá.

Mi. "My." Mi. Mi.

Papá. "Father." Papá. Papá.

Together, it's mi papá. "My father." Mi papá.

Next is Mamá. "Mother." Mamá. Mamá.

Mi mamá. "My mother." Mi mamá.

Next is hermano. "Brother." Hermano. Hermano.

Mi hermano. "My brother." Mi hermano.

After this is Hermana. "Sister." Hermana. Hermana.

Mi hermana. "My sister." Mi hermana.

Next is y. "And." Y. Y.

Last is yo, which translates as "me" in this context. Yo. Yo.

All together, it's Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

"My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and me."

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

The pattern is

Mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER y yo.

"My FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, and me."

To use this pattern, simply replace the {FAMILY MEMBER} placeholder with the members of your family.

Imagine you have two sisters.

Hermanas, "sisters." Hermanas. Hermanas.

Hermanas is plural — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.

Before Hermanas is mis, "my." Mis. Mis.

Mis is plural to agree with hermanas.

Note, to refer to "brothers" or to "siblings" when at least one of your siblings is a boy, use "mis hermanos. Mis hermanos. Mis hermanos.

Say

"My father, my mother, my sisters, and me."

Mi papá, mi mamá, mis hermanas y yo.

"My father, my mother, my brother, and me."

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano y yo.

Again, the key pattern is

Mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER, mi FAMILY MEMBER y yo.

"My FAMILY MEMBER}, my FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, my FAMILY MEMBER, and me."

Let's look at some more examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

"My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and me."

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

Mi papá, mi mamá, mis hermanas y yo.

"My father, my mother, my sisters, and me."

Mi papá, mi mamá, mis hermanas y yo.

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana y yo.

"My father, my mother, my sister, and me."

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana y yo.

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana, mi hermano y yo.

"My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me."

Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana, mi hermano y yo.

Mis papás y yo.

"My parents, and me."

Mis papás y yo.

Did you notice how the native speaker replaced mi papá, mi mamá with mis papás?

Mis papás y yo.

"My parents and me."

The phrase, mis papás, literally means "my fathers" but translates as "my parents." Mis papás.

Papás. "Parents." Papás. Papás.

Papás is plural — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.

Before this is mis, "my." Mis. Mis.

Mis is plural to agree with papás.

Mis papás y yo.

"My parents and me."

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. Ready?

Do you remember how to say "yes”?

Sí.

And how to say "me?”

Yo.

Do you remember how to say "and?”

And how to say "sister”?

Hermana.

Do you remember how to say "my sister”?

Mi hermana.

Do you remember how to say "brother?"

Hermano.

And how to say "mother”?

Mamá.

Do you remember how to say "father”?

Papá.

Do you remember how Catalina says,

"Yes. My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and me."

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.

Do you remember how to say "family?"

Familia.

And how to say "your family?"

Tu familia.

Do you remember how Silvia asks,

"Is this your family?"

¿Es tu familia?

Do you remember how to say "sisters”?

hermanas

And how to say "my sisters?"

mis hermanas

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Lucas , Catalina's younger brother, and you have a father, papá, mother, mamá, and two sisters, hermanas.

Respond to your friend’s question referring to the photo.

Don’t forget to include the word for "yes" at the beginning of your response.

Ready?

¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mis hermanas y yo.

Listen again and repeat.

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mis hermanas y yo.

Let's try another.

Imagine you're Catalina's classmate, Ricardo.

You have a father, papá, mother, mamá and a sister, hermana,

Ready?

¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana y yo.

Listen again and repeat.

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana y yo.

Let's try one more.

Imagine you’re Catalina's classmate and language-exchange partner, Silvia.

You have a father, papá, mother, mamá, sister,hermana, and a brother, hermano.

Ready?

¿Es tu familia?

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana, mi hermano y yo.

Listen again and repeat.

Sí. Mi papá, mi mamá, mi hermana, mi hermano y yo.

Well Done! This is the end of this lesson.

In this lesson, you learned how to talk about your parents and siblings, an essential skill for talking about your family.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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