Spanish: Talking about family

Learn how to introduce your family with these handy words and phrases.

(To say 'a' use un if it’s a masculine noun and una if it’s a feminine noun)

To say 'I have' you can use tengo (from the verb tener).

For example:

• Tengo un hermano - I have a brother
• Tengo una madre - I have a mother
• Tengo dos primos - I have two cousins

To say you don't have something, you can use the phrase no tengo… (I don't have…)

• No tengo hermanos - I don't have brothers

To ask 'What is your… called?' use the question:

¿Cómo se llama tu…? for one person (singular)

or

¿Cómo se llaman tus…? for two or more people (plural)

For example:

• ¿Cómo se llama tu madre? - What’s your mum called?

• ¿Cómo se llama tu padre? - What’s your dad called?

• ¿Cómo se llaman tus hermanos? - What are your brothers called?

To talk about one person’s name (singular), use Se llama… – He / She is called

For example:

• Se llama Angus - He is called Angus

• Se llama Maria - She is called Maria

To talk about two or more people’s names (plural) use Se llaman… y… - They are called… and…

For example:

• Se llaman Sally y Paul - They are called Sally and Paul

'My' in Spanish is either mi (singular) or mis (plural).

This means 'my brother' would be mi hermano and 'my brothers' would be mis hermanos.

You can then add either se llama (singular) or se llaman (plural) to the person’s name.

For example:

• Mi padre se llama Jakob - My dad is called Jakob
• Mi hermana se llama Alisha - My sister is called Alisha
• Mis padres se llaman Farha y Donald - My parents are called Farha and Donald

You might have noticed that some letters in Spanish have an accent, such as í.

The accent is always above a vowel, as in tío (uncle), and it lets you know to put stress on this part of the word.

The í sound is pronounced as an ‘ee’.