{"id":31564,"date":"2019-09-10T05:30:45","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T03:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=31564"},"modified":"2019-10-25T14:07:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T12:07:13","slug":"french-vocabulary-talking-about-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-vocabulary-talking-about-family\/","title":{"rendered":"French Vocabulary – Talking about family"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just finished a book called Mon fr\u00e8re (My bother) <\/em>in which the French \u00e9crivain<\/strong> (writer<\/em>) Daniel Pennac<\/a> interweaves his memories of a dear older brother with excerpts from a Herman Melville short story. The short text, which I picked up last summer on my trip to France<\/a> avec mon fils<\/strong> (with my son<\/em>), touched me \u2026 and taught me a new word.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pu\u00een\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can honestly say that until Mon fr\u00e8re<\/em> I had never encountered this word. From the context in the book I had a pretty good idea that it related to the birth order of one of Pennac\u2019s brothers. And from the sound of the word, I guessed that it must relate to a younger brother (or at least not the oldest). You see pu\u00een\u00e9(e)<\/em> sounds like a combination of the French words puis<\/strong>* (next, ensuing, after<\/em>) and n\u00e9<\/strong> (born,<\/em> the past tense of nai\u00eere<\/em>). Logically then le pu\u00een\u00e9<\/strong> would be \u201cthe one born after<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

While pu\u00een\u00e9\u00a0<\/strong>isn’t used much anymore, there are a number of useful words in French that are commonly used when talking about\u00a0la fratrie <\/strong>(relationships between siblings).**<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Fran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
L\u2019a\u00ee<\/b>n\u00e9(e)<\/strong>, n.<\/em><\/td>\nThe oldest<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A\u00ee<\/b>n\u00e9(e)<\/strong>,\u00a0adj.<\/em><\/td>\nElder<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cadet \/ cadette<\/strong>,\u00a0adj.<\/em><\/td>\nYounger<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Le benjamin \/ la benjamine***<\/strong>,\u00a0n.<\/em><\/td>\nThe youngest<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
enfant unique<\/strong>,\u00a0n.<\/em><\/td>\nonly child<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Let’s look at some examples from my own life.<\/p>\n

Dans ma famille, il y a quatre enfants.<\/strong> \/ There are 4 children in my family.<\/em><\/p>\n

J\u2019ai un fr\u00e8re et deux soeurs.<\/strong> \/ \u00a0I have one brother and two sisters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mon fr\u00e8re Thomas est l\u2019a\u00een\u00e9.<\/b> \/ My brother Tom is the eldest.<\/em><\/p>\n

Je suis le plus jeune. Je suis le benjamin de la famille.<\/strong> \/ I am the youngest. I am the baby of the family.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mes s\u0153urs sont Tracy et Terri. Tracy et Terri sont plus jeunes que Tom, mais elles sont plus \u00e2g\u00e9es que moi.<\/strong> \/ My sisters are Tracy and Terri. Tracy and Terri are younger than Tom, but they are older than me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pour Thomas, Tracy et Terri sont ses s\u0153urs cadettes.<\/strong> \/ For Tom, Tracy and Terri are his younger sisters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pour moi, Tracy et Terri sont mes s\u0153urs ain\u00e9es.<\/strong> \/ For me, Tracy and Terri are my older sisters.<\/em><\/p>\n

For other family-related vocabulary, check out this past post<\/a>.<\/div>\n

* The accent\u00a0<\/em>circonflexe<\/i>\u00a0in pu\u00een\u00e9 <\/em>(like the one in a\u00een\u00e9<\/em>) represents an s<\/em> that used to be part of the word. You can read more about that \u2013 and the other French accents \u2013 here<\/a>.
\n** While fraternit\u00e9<\/em> is often translated as brotherhood<\/em>, it means more than that. It refers to the relationship between siblings, and more generally (as in Libert\u00e9, \u00e9galit\u00e9, fraternit\u00e9<\/em>) to the special bond between people (the brotherhood of man). When applied more specifically to the genealogy of siblings – as Emmanuel points out in the comments – we would say la fratrie<\/em> instead of la fraternit\u00e9<\/em>.
\n*** The term benjamin<\/em> comes from the Bible. Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob in the story of Joseph and his many-colored coat in Genesis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I just finished a book called Mon fr\u00e8re (My bother) in which the French \u00e9crivain (writer) Daniel Pennac interweaves his memories of a dear older brother with excerpts from a Herman Melville short story. The short text, which I picked up last summer on my trip to France avec mon fils (with my son), touched…<\/p>\n

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