Beginner's Guide to Spanish Family Vocabulary (PDF)

One of the first topics you learn to talk about in Spanish is your family.

What are the members of your family?

How many members does your family have?

How do they look?

And so on.

One of the most important things in the lives of Spanish people is family. They often say ‘La familia lo es todo’ or ‘The family is everything.’

So, to be able to talk with native Spanish speakers about this topic, you have to learn words and phrases about family in Spanish.

Lucky for you, we have prepared all the information you need to perfect your Spanish family vocabulary.

So, without further ado, let’s get started.

How Important Is Family to the Spanish?

The concept of family in Spain, as well as other Spanish-speaking countries, differs depending on its part of the world.

Spanish families are large, and relationships between their members are warm and pretty close. There is so much care and concern, and if any of the members deal with some problems, everyone will try to help.

Grandparents are very important, even today, in a modern way of life. Grandkids are very close to their grandparents, especially when they are little, and they spend as much time together as possible. 

Children are the most important members of the family. People take them everywhere; to social events, weddings, gatherings, etc.

Spaniards think that a close and good relationship between family members is the basis of a person’s socialization.

And they are right, aren’t they?

Spanish Family Vocabulary

In the following lines, you will find all the necessary words about close family, extended family etc.

Moreover, below, you can download a PDF file of Spanish Family Vocabulary so that you can have it with you all the time.

Download Spanish Family Vocabulary PDF

Close Family Members in Spanish

Even though every language students learn how to name close family members, it would be good to have them all in one place:

Extended Family Members in Spanish

Okay, it is quite possible that you won’t use these words often, but you should still learn them.

When you improve your Spanish, there is no better way to extend your vocabulary and practice extended family members than with Gabriel Garcia Marques and his worldwide-known book Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude).

Now, let’s see how does the Spanish family tree looks like:

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La familia política in Spanish 

Don’t worry. We are not going to talk about politics. 

The phrase la familia politica in Spanish refers to in-laws family members, and those are people you are related to by marriage.

Interestingly, the word marrido means husband, while for wives, there is no term.

Some use the word marrida, but it isn’t standardized.

Now, let’s take a glance at the in-laws:

‘New’ Family Members in Spanish

Today, it is pretty common that people marry and divorce more than once.

When one of our parents marries again, he or she can have more kids with that person. Those children remain our relatives, precisely, step-brothers or sisters, while their partners are stepfather or stepmother.

In Spanish, they are:

Some Grammar Tips While Talking About Family

• When talking about family members, in Spanish, we use the verb ‘ser’ (to be). In these situations, English uses ‘there are.’ Spanish, for example, say ‘Somos quatro (en mi familia),’ while in English it is ‘There are four of us (in my family).’

• When you start describing your family members, you tend to do that the best way possible. In these cases, you, naturally, use adjectives.  So, keep in mind that, in Spanish, adjectives follow nouns.

• It is vital to use gender the right way. Adjectives must agree in genders with nouns they stand by. It means that if you use a feminine noun, the adjective has to be used in its feminine form.

• Like genders, the same rule applies to numbers as well. Adjectives must agree in number with nouns they explain closely. So, when a word ends in the letter ‘o’ or ‘a,’ in the plural form, you have to change them to ‘os’ or ‘as’ in the plural form. 

Get your copy of Family Vocabulary List in Spanish

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Final Thoughts

Perhaps the best way to show you how much Spanish people love their families and like to talk about them is the phrase ‘No necesitas / tienes abuela.’ This phrase is used for someone who has a high opinion of themselves and that they are so overconfident that they ‘don’t have/ don’t need a grandmother.’ That is how much the family means to the Spanish people.

It is always fun to talk about family. They are part of us like we are part of them. We may not have to like them, but we always love them. And if your family members, like Spanish ones, are loud, warm and open-hearted then you are really lucky.

So don’t be shy to talk about them with Spanish native speakers. If you are stuck somewhere, you can always ask for help from Spanish tutors on Justlearn.

After all, who will understand better, than native speakers?