French family vocabulary

The French word for family is “la famille” (pronounced “la famij” or “la fam-ee”). Vocabulary words for family members are: la mère (mother), le père (father), la soeur (sister), le frère (brother), la fille (daugher), le garçon (son), la tante (aunt), l’oncle (uncle), la grand-mère (grandmother) and le grand-père (grandfather).

This page will explain how to say the French family members (les membres de la famille) in detail. If you ever travel to France you will quickly discover that family values are very important to the French people.

These vocabulary lists cover the immediate family, extended family, specific words for steps and in-laws as well as words concerning adoption, family trees and genealogy.

In French, “les parents” means both parents and relatives. Hence, “J’ai des parents à Marseille” translates to “I have relatives in Marseille.

In addition to this list, you may also find the list at Frenchtoday.com to be very helpful!

How to pronounce famille in French

The French word for family is “la famille”. A very common mistake is for people to pronounce the LL’s. Do not pronounce the LL’s.

The LL’s sound like “ee” as in feet. Hence the pronunciation sounds like “fa-mee”. Here are some samples of how to pronounce famille correctly on Forvo.

This quick video also does a great job teaching the proper pronunciation.

French vocabulary for the immediate family

The following list is for the members of the immediate family. The “è” on the words père (father), mère (mother) and frère (brother) has an “eh” sound.

The pronunciation of soeur is quite tricky. Here are some samples of how to pronounce seour on Forvo.

For the word fille (daughter), don’t pronounce the LL’s. The pronunciation of fille is “fee”, with a slight y sound at the end. Here are some samples of how to pronounce fille on Forvo.

father le père
mother la mère
son le fils
daughter la fille
brother le frère
sister la soeur
husband le mari
wife la femme, l’épouse
husband l’époux, le mari

French extended family members

The following is a list of extended family members. Notice that the word for grandmother is “la grand-mère”. Be sure not to add an -e to “grand” to make it feminine. This would be a mistake.

For the great grandparents, attached the word “arrière”. Hence, “arrière-grand-père” is great grandfather and “arrière-grand-mère” is great grandmother.

grandparents les grand-parents
grandfather le grand-père
grandmother la grand-mère
great-grandfather l’arrière-grand-père
great-grandmother l’arrière-grand-mère
grandchildren les petits-enfants
grandson le petit-fils
granddaughter la petite-fille
uncle l’oncle
aunt la tante
great-uncle le grand-oncle
great-aunt la grand-tante
nephew le neveu
niece la nièce
male cousin le cousin
female cousin la cousine

French vocabulary for the in-laws and step family

French vocabulary for the in-laws and step family can become quite confusing. La belle-famille refers to the in-laws.

When describing family members by marriage, the French do not distinguish between in-laws and step.

For example, “le beau-père” means both father-in-law and step-father.

Interestingly, “le demi-frère” translates to both half brother and step brother. Logically, “la demi-soeur” translates to half sister and step sister.

parents-in-law les beaux-parents
father-in-law, step-father le beau-père
mother-in-law, step-mother la belle-mère
son-in-law, step-son le beau-fils
daughter-in-law, step-daughter la belle-fille
half-brother, step brother le demi-frère
half-sister, step sister la demi-soeur

Special words for the family

French has some special family terms which are necessary to learn.

l’aîné – As a noun, l’ainé(e) means eldest child. As an adjective it means ‘older than’ or ‘your senior’.

Marie est l’ainee de la famille. Elle a 35 ans. Marie is the eldest child in the family. She’s 35 years-old.
Joseph est mon aîné de cinq ans. Joseph is five years older than me.

Le cadet – As a noun, le cadet/la cadette means the youngest child. As an adjective, it means younger. Le cadet can also refer to the second-born child.

Notre cadet habite encore à la maison. Our youngest child still lives at home.
Ma soeur cadette s’appelle Julie. My younger sister’s name is Julie.

Le benjamin – Le benjamin/la benjamine also refers to the youngest child in the family.

Sophie est la benjamine de la famille : elle n’a que trois ans. Sophie is the youngest in the family. She’s only three years-old.

Adoption and fostering

The following list covers adoption and fostering. French culture places a heavy emphasis on the parents.

Hence, you’ll often hear French people referring to “mon parrain” (my godfather) and “ma marraine” (my godmother.

adoptive father – père adoptif
adoptive mother – mère adoptive
biological parents – les parents biologiques
biological father – le père biologique
biological mother – la mère biologique
foster family – la famille d’accueil
foster mother – la mère de la famille d’accueil
foster father – le père de la famille d’accueil
godfather – le parrain
godmother – la marraine
godson – le filleul
goddaughter – la filleule

How to introduce family members

The following list of short phrases can come in handy for introducing family members in social situations.

“Je vous présente” is formal and translates to “I introduce you to”. The informal version for people you know better is “Je te présent”.

This my wife. Je vous présente ma femme.
This is my husband. Je vous présente mon mari.
These are my kids. Je vous présente mes enfants.
This is my daugher/son. Je vous présente ma fille/mon fils.
This is my sister/brother. Je vous présente ma soeur/mon frère.
This is my mother/father. Je vous présente mon père/ma mère.

Genealogy and distant relatives

If you are traveling to France with the intention of looking for distant relatives the following list covering genealogy and family trees will come in handy.

genealogy la généalogie
direct line of descent la filiation
family tree un arbre généalogique
ancestry, bloodline, lineage l’ascendance (f)
generation une génération
ancestors les ancêtres, les aïeux
distant relative un(e) parent(e) éloigné(e)
relationship, kinship la parenté
first cousin un(e) cousin(e) germain
second cousin un(e) cousin(e) issu de germain
once removed au deuxième degré
paternal (adj) paternel(le)
maternal (adj) maternel(le)
DNA le AND

Family in French – Summary Table

Here are ways of saying family members in French organized by each person with comments and pronunciation tips.

French	English	Comments
la famille	family	Pronounced "la fam-ee". Don't pronounce the LL's.
la mère	mother	è is pronounced "eh". This is the accent grave.
le père	father	è is pronounced "eh". This is the accent grave. Pronunciation clip here.
le frère	brother	è is pronounced "eh". This is the accent grave.
la soeur	sister	Pronunciation clip here.
le fils	son	Pronounced "le fees". Don't say the -L.
la fille	daughter	Pronounced "la fee-ya" with a slight ya. Pronunciation clip here.
la grand-mère	grandmother	Do not add an -e to grand.
le grand-père	grandfather	Pronunciation clip here.
l'oncle	uncle	Pronunciation clip here.
la tante	aunt	Pronunciation clip here.
le cousin, la cousine	cousin	Presented both masculine and feminine forms. Cousin: nasal "in"; Cousine: pronounce the -n.