J’aime toute ma famille (I love all my family)!

La petite (the small) as well as la grande (the extended.)

Don’t you too?

Do you also believe in the priority that says “la famille d’abord” (“family first”)?

Today, we will “familiarize” ourselves, so to speak, with a set of French words and expressions related to la “famille.”

• • Un or une ancêtre: ancestor. You can also say, more formally, aïeul (forebear.)
  • La mère (the mother), or more informally “la maman.“
  • Le père (the father), or the informal “le papa.”
  • Le grand-père (the grandfather), who can be called informally “papi“
  • La grand-mère (the grandmother), also informally can be “mami.” (Like in “Mami Casse-cou“: The French title of the English series “Supergran“!)
  • Le frère (the brother), who can be said to be “le frangin.“
  • La soeur (the sister), she can also be called “la frangine.“
  • L’oncle (the uncle), whom you may call “tonton“
  • La tante (the aunt), you can also call her “tata“
  • Le cousin or la cousine (Obviously the cousins.)
  • Les cousins germains (These are not necessarily used to designate Wolfgang and Helga, your German cousins who may live in Munich or Berlin. “Cousin germain” simply means “first cousin”, just like the English term “cousin-german.”)

• Le neveu (the nephew)
• La nièce (the niece)
• L’époux, or its feminine, l’épouse (the spouse), which can also be said le mari (the husband) and la femme (the wife), or le conjoint and la conjointe.
• Le fils (the son)
• La fille (the daughter)
• Le petit-fils (the grandson)
• La petite-fille (the granddaughter)
• Les petits-enfants (the grandchildren)
• Le parrain (the godfather)
• La maraine (the godmother)

• Les “beaux” (literally, the “beautiful ones”): The in-laws
  • Le beau-frère, la belle-soeur: Contrary to what the literal meaning may suggest, these refer to the brother-in-law and the sister-in-law, whether they’ve been spoiled by dame nature (mother nature) or not! Similarly, you have beau-fils (son-in-law, but also means a stepson who can be called “fils adoptif“”), and belle-fille (daughter-in-law, or a stepdaughter, “une fille adoptive“), and of course the ever-popular among married couples: Le beau-père (father-in-law) and la belle-mère (mother-in-law)!