One of the best ways for beginners of any language to practice is by talking about your family. By giving basic details such as name, age, and job for your family members, you get to practice making introductions several times. You can also practice asking other people about their family members to get you familiar with question words and structures. To help you out, here’s a Spanish lesson on “Mi Familia.” Let’s start with the Spanish vocabulary you’ll need.

Family Vocabulary

Question and Answer

Now that you’ve got your family tree down en español, it’s time to do a little Q&A. Here are some common questions you might ask/get asked about family members:

¿Cómo se llama su…?
What is your …’s name?

Se llama/llamo…
Her/His name is…

¿En que trabaja (él/ella)?
What does he/she do?

(Él/ella) es…
He/she is a/an…

¿Cuántos años tiene (él/ella)?
How old is he/she?

(Él/ella) tiene… años.
He/she is… years old.

¿Dónde vive (él/ella)? ¿Dónde viven (ellos/ellas)?
Where does he/she live? Where do they live?

(Él/ella) vive en…/(Ellos/ellas) viven en…
He/she lives in…/They live in…

¿Tiene hijos (él/ella)?
Does he/she have children?

Sí, (él/ella) tiene… hijos./No, (él/ella) no tiene hijos.
Yes, he/she has… children./No, he/she doesn’t have children.

 

Note that once you’ve established the subject and their gender, you don’t really need to use pronouns in follow-up questions. If you’re continuing the conversation about the same person/people, you can drop the pronouns after the first question. Go ahead and try to answer some of those questions about people in your family to practice!

Mi Familia

Combine all of that and try to introduce your family in Spanish. I’ll go first! Keep in mind that I’m still a super beginner, so I’m focusing on the basics here.

Mi familia es muy grande. Tengo seis hermanos – cuatro hermanos y dos hermanas. Soy el mayor. Tengo treinta y dos años.

Mi papá es doctor y mi mamá es enfermera. Ambos trabajan en un hospital.

Ya soy casado. Mi esposa se llama Rachel. Ella solo tiene un hermano. Ella también tiene una madrastra y un padrastro. Su familia me cae muy bien. Todavía no tenemos hijos.

Tengo abuelos por parte de mi madre. También tengo muchos tíos, tías, y primos.

Todavía no tengo sobrinos ni sobrinas, porque mis hermanos son jóvenes.

My family is very large. I have six siblings – four brothers and two sisters. I am the oldest. I’m thirty-two years old.

My dad is a doctor and my mom is a nurse. Both work in a hospital.

I’m already married. My wife’s name is Rachel. She has only one brother. She also has a stepmother and stepfather. I like her family very much. We do not have children yet.

I have grandparents on my mother’s side. I also have many uncles, aunts, and cousins.

I don’t have any nephews or nieces yet, because my siblings are young.

 

That’s all for me – now it’s your turn! Practice in the mirror or with a friend, or leave a comment below in Spanish and let us know about you and your family. More advanced readers can feel free to show off a bit. The rest of us can learn from you!