Family members in Spanish,and greeting a Bolivian family
To talk about your family in Spanish, name each person with el or la: la madre, el padre, el hermano, la hermana. Say how many you have with tengo, as in tengo dos hijos, and introduce someone with es: ella es mi abuela. ¿Quién es? asks who someone is. In a Bolivian family you will often hear don or doña before a first name, as in doña Carmen, and when you arrive at a family gathering you greet each person, one by one.
Every phrase comes from the lessons. Press play to hear it.
Buenos días, doña Carmen.Good morning, doña Carmen.
Mucho gusto, don René.Nice to meet you, don René.
Hola, don René.Hello, don René.
Buenas tardes, Ana. ¿Tiene hermanos?Good afternoon, Ana. Do you have brothers or sisters?
Tengo un hermano y dos hermanas.I have one brother and two sisters.
Mi madre trabaja en una escuela.My mother works at a school.
Mi hijo tiene ocho años.My son is eight years old.
Ana, ¿quién es él?Ana, who is he?
¿Y la señora?And the lady?
Y él es mi hijo.And he is my son.
How it works
Family words,in pairs
el hermano
The brother; la hermana is the sister. Most family words come in pairs: the word in -o names the man, the word in -a the woman.
el hijo
The son; la hija is the daughter. Hijos covers sons and daughters together.
el abuelo
The grandfather; la abuela is the grandmother.
la madre
The mother, and el padre the father: two different words, not a pair in -o and -a.
Tengo dos hijos
I have two children: tengo plus the number, and un or una for one: tengo una hermana.
Who is it?
¿Quién es?
Who is it? Quién asks for a person.
Ella es mi abuela
She is my grandmother: ella for a woman, él for a man, and es for each of them.
mi hermana
My sister: mi stays the same for a woman or a man, as in mi hermano.
¿Cómo es?
What is he or she like? A lasting quality takes ser: mi hermano es alto.
The rule card of lesson 8
Each question word asks for one kind of answer
qué asks what a thing is; cuál and cuáles pick one out of a set you both already have in mind.
cuánto counts or prices, cómo asks the way something is done, and dónde, cuándo and quién ask for a place, a time and a person.
por qué asks for the reason behind, para qué asks for the purpose ahead.
¿Cuál es tu apellido?A surname is one out of many, so Spanish picks it with cuál, never with qué.
¿Cómo se escribe?cómo asks for the way, here the spelling, not for the thing itself.
In Bolivia
What the lessons tell you about doing it here.
Santa Cruz · Lesson 7
Don and doña before a first name
In a Bolivian family you will often hear don or doña before a first name: don René, doña Carmen. It is a warm, respectful way to speak to your partner's parents, softer than a surname with señor or señora.
Santa Cruz · Lesson 8
Greet each person,one by one
Arriving at a family gathering in Bolivia, you greet each person individually: doña Carmen, don René, la abuela. A general wave to the room is not quite enough; each one expects their own hola. So when your host says Ella es mi abuela, greet her too.
Short dialogues
The chat that closes each lesson: what you hear, and the reply the lesson teaches.
CDoña Carmen, neighbourLesson 7
Buenas tardes, Ana. ¿Tiene hermanos?Good afternoon, Ana. Do you have brothers or sisters?
YouSí, tengo un hermano y una hermana.
¿Y tiene hijos?And do you have children?
YouSí, tengo dos hijos.
Yo tengo tres hijas. Una es profesora.I have three daughters. One is a teacher.
YouMi madre es profesora.
Muy bien. Hasta mañana, Ana.Very good. See you tomorrow, Ana.
CDoña Carmen, neighbourLesson 8
Ana, ¿quién es él?Ana, who is he?
YouÉl es mi padre.
¿Y la señora?And the lady?
YouElla es mi abuela.
Y él es mi hijo.And he is my son.
You¿Y quién es ella?
Es mi hija. Hasta mañana, Ana.She's my daughter. See you tomorrow, Ana.
Practise it in a free lesson
Lessons 7 and 8 of Mi español teach exactly this, with short exercises and these dialogues.
Lesson 7 · {min} to {max} min Free account
Naming your family
Name the people in your family, say how many brothers, sisters or children you have, and say what they do.
