vocabulario B1# la familia

Lo normal en inglés es que los sustantivos sean neutros, es decir, que no haya ninguna diferencia entre masculino y femenino. Teacher, por ejemplo, significa tanto profesor como profesora.

Sin embargo, la familia es de los pocos sustantivos en inglés que tienen diferencia de género, es decir, que hay una palabra para el masculino y otra para el femenino. Por ejemplo, father es padre mientras que mother es madre.

Ahora bien, dentro de la familia en inglés, hay sustantivos plurales que son neutros y se usan para nombrar a ambos géneros. Ten en cuenta que en español usamos la forma masculina aunque nos estemos refiriendo a hombre y mujer.

Todas estas palabras designan tanto hombres como mujeres, sin especificar. Vamos a verlo con un ejemplo práctico.

Supongamos que tienes una hermana y alguien te pregunta en español ¿Tienes hermanos? Tu respuesta es Sí, una hermana.

Si traducimos esa frase al inglés y decimos Do you have any brothers? la respuesta es No, I don’t porque tienes una hermana, no un hermano.

Sin embargo, si nos preguntan Do you have any siblings? la respuesta es Yes, I have a sister.

Para hacer la familia política en inglés solo hay que añadir in-law, que significa por la ley, detrás de la persona según sería si fuera de tu familia carnal.

Es decir, tu cuñada es tu hermana por la ley (sister in-law), porque es la mujer de tu hermano o hermana y tu suegro es tu padre por la ley (father in-law) porque es el padre de tu marido o mujer.

immediate family

Families can take any shape and most people can agree that a family is a group of people who love and respect each other. Another feature of a family can be “being there” when they need you.

Traditionally, families consist of two parents: a father and a mother. If they have children, those can be sons and daughters.

It is very common for little sons and daughters to call their parents dad and mum, and even for those not so little. Mummy and daddy are quite common, too. In America, mothers are called moms but in the United Kingdom they are called mums.

Parents can be married or not. When they are married, the man is called husband and the woman, wife. We can say spouses to refer to both of them at the same time or when we don’t want to identify the gender.

When we say child in English, we don’t know if it is a boy or a girl. The same happens with children, which is the plural of child. However, when we say son we know it is a boy and when we say daughter we know it is a girl.

Siblings are the best! You can always play with them when you are little, and they are always there when you grow up. If you say siblings, it means either brothers or sisters. It is very different to saying brothers, which is only boys, or sisters, which is only girls.

extended family

In English, the word “grand” is used to talk about your extended family.

Your grandparents are your parents’ parents. You can have grandparents on your mother’s side and on your father’s side.

Grandfather is the correct word if it’s a man and grandmother if it’s a woman. However, many people think this word is too formal and they prefer saying grandpa and grandma.

Using the same “grand” prefix, we can talk of grandchildren, grandson, granddaughter and even grandchild, if we don’t want to say the gender.

If you are lucky enough as to have grandparents, don’t forget to spend time with them. They are old but wise, and they all love their grandchildren in a very special way.

Your parents’ brothers and sisters are also your family. Your parent’s brother is your uncle and your parent’s sister is your aunt. There is no common word for naming both at the same time so you have to say “my aunt and my uncle”.

Your sibling’s son is your nephew. If it is a girl, she’s your niece. Your children and your sibling’s children are cousins.

the in-laws

The in-laws are the new family you gain when you get married. Also, if you are in a committed relationship, some people still call them the in-laws.

Some people are not very lucky, and their family in-law isn’t very nice. However, for other people it means that now you have a bigger family.

Your father in-law is your spouse’s father and your mother in-law is their mother. Easy, right?

If your wife or husband have any siblings, they become your sister in-law if it’s a woman and your brother in-law if it is a man.

From the parents’ in-law perspective, if you are married to their children, you are their son in-law if you are a man or their daughter in-law if you are a woman.