Published June 6, 2024 • Updated August 8, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Famille — Meaning and Pronunciation
Famille (f.) is a French noun meaning “family.” It refers to a group of people related by blood, marriage, or close family ties. You can use it to talk about your immediate family, extended family, or family in general.
The IPA pronunciation of famille is /fa.mij/, which sounds approximately like “fah-mee-y.” Do not pronounce the -ll- as regular L sounds; in famille, -ill- produces a “y” sound similar to the y in “yes.”
Example Sentences
Marc est issu d’une grande famille. Il a beaucoup de cousins.
Marc comes from a big family. He has a lot of cousins.
Nous allons dîner chez la belle-famille aujourd’hui.
We’re going to have dinner at the in-laws today.
Les abeilles et les guêpes appartiennent à la famille des insectes.
Bees and yellow jackets belong to the same family of insects.
👉 See also: French family vocabulary (with native audio) »
Achieve fluency with an audio course!
I’ve known Camille Chevalier of French Today for years and love her À Moi Paris audio course. Her lessons focus on real spoken French and are recorded at three different speeds, which makes them especially helpful for improving listening comprehension.
👉 Explore À Moi Paris »
👉 Read my review »
If you purchase the course, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you.
🔗 Related words and expressions
- les parents — parents
- le père — father
- la mère — mother
- le frère — brother
- la sœur — sister
- les enfants — children
- la fille — girl, daughter
- le fils — son
- la grand-mère – grandmother, grandma
- le grand-père – grandfather, grandpa
🚀 Continue learning on FrenchLearner!
👉 French Word of the Day »
👉 French verb conjugations »
👉 French vocabulary lists »
👉 French song lyrics »
👉 French grammar lessons »
