👉 Learning “sœur” goes hand-in-hand with “mom.” See the lesson on maman »
Level A1 (beginner)
This lesson explains how to pronounce and use sœur, meaning sister. Many students have a hard time with the pronunciation of the œ letter, which is called l’e dans l’o (the e in the o).
Pronunciation
Example sentences
Pronunciation
Example sentences
Martine est la sœur de Gerald. Elle a trente ans.
Martine is Gerald’s sister. She is thirty years-old.
This second sentence uses combien de + noun, which translates to “how much?” and “how many?”
Combien de frères et sœurs as-tu ?
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
This sentence makes reference to Sœur Sourire (the Singing Nun), the famous Belgian singer who sang Dominique. We covered this song in this post. La plus + adjective (the most) is an example of the French superlative.
Dominique est la chanson la plus célèbre de Sœur Sourire.
Dominique is the Singing Nun’s most famous song.
Word origin
The Modern French sœur comes from soror in Latin.
Word family
- la frangine – sister (slang)
- la petite/grande sœur (little or older sister)
- la belle-sœur – sister-in-law
- la demi-sœur – step and half sister
- la bonne sœur – nun (dated term)
Related lessons
- Family vocabulary
- Le père – father, dad
- Maman – mom
- Grand-mère – grandmother, grandma
- Grand-père – grandfather, grandpa
