Today we’ll have a look at the feminine noun famille, which means family. Many students mistake the pronunciation of this word by pronouncing the double-LL. Don’t say the LLs! Famille in French sounds like “fam-ee” with a slight Y sound.
la famille
family
Word origin
The Modern French feminine noun famille comes from familia (household) in Latin.
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of family in French is: famille or [famij]. This post covering the French reading rules explains the LL in detail.
Example sentences
The expression être issu de means “to come from”.
Marc est issu d’une grande famille. Il a beaucoup de cousins.
Marc comes form a big family. He has a lot of cousins.
In French, la belle-famille can refer to both the family-in-law and stepfamily.
Nous allons dîner chez la belle-famille aujourd’hui.
We’re going to have dinner at the in-laws today.
Interestingly, the feminine noun guêpe translates to both wasp and yellow jacket.
Les abeilles et les guêpes appartiennent à la famille des insectes.
Bees and yellow jackets belong to the same of insects.
French Lessons by David Issokson
Related lessons
- Family vocabulary
- Maman – Mom
- Le Père – Father, dad
- La fill – girl, daughter
- Grand-Mère – Grandmother, grandma
- Grand-père – Grandfather, grandpa
References
