Spanish · Beginner (A1) · Chapter 5 of 12
Family and friends
La familia y los amigos
Talk about your family and friends in Spanish, say how old people are with tener, and use my, your and his or her.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Name the people in your family
- Say how old you and others are
- Use mi, tu and su (my, your, his/her)
- Make nouns plural and sentences negative with no
Listen
At work in Valencia, Sara shows her colleague Jorge a photo on her phone. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Sara
Mira, Jorge, mi familia.
Look, Jorge, this is my family.
Jorge
¿Quién es el chico?
Who's the boy?
Sara
Es mi hermano, Álvaro. Tiene diecinueve años.
That's my brother, Álvaro. He's nineteen.
Jorge
¿Y la mujer de la izquierda? ¿Es tu madre?
And the woman on the left? Is she your mother?
Sara
Sí, es mi madre. Y la chica de la derecha es mi amiga Marta.
Yes, that's my mother. And the girl on the right is my friend Marta.
Jorge
¿Y tu padre?
And your father?
Sara
No está en la foto. ¿Y tú, Jorge? ¿Tienes hermanos?
He isn't in the photo. And you, Jorge? Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Jorge
Sí, tengo una hermana. Tiene treinta y dos años y tiene dos hijos.
Yes, I have a sister. She's thirty-two and she has two children.
Sara
¿Y cuántos años tienen sus hijos?
And how old are her children?
Jorge
Mi sobrino tiene cinco años y mi sobrina tiene tres.
My nephew is five and my niece is three.
Understand
Tener: to have, and to say your age
means “to have”: (I have a sister). It's irregular, so learn its forms by heart. As with (chapter 1), takes the / form and the / form.
Spanish uses for age, not . You literally “have” your years: (I'm twenty). To ask, say (How old are you?)
| Person | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| (I'm thirty.) | ||
| (Do you have brothers or sisters?) | ||
| / / | (She has two children.) | |
| / (we) | (We have a son.) | |
| / (you, plural) | (Do you have children?) | |
| / / (they, you plural) | (They're three.) |
Mi, tu, su: my, your, his, her
The word for “my”, “your” and so on agrees with the thing or person you have, not with the owner. With one person use , , . With more than one, add -s: , , .
(your) has no accent. with an accent means “you”. can mean “his”, “her”, “their” or polite “your” (). The situation makes it clear.
| English | One | More than one |
|---|---|---|
| my | ||
| your () | ||
| his, her, their, your () |
Family words and plurals
To make a noun plural, add -s if it ends in a vowel and -es if it ends in a consonant: → , → . The words for “the” and “a” change too: → , → , → , → (some).
Most family words have a masculine form in -o and a feminine form in -a. The masculine plural covers a mixed group: can mean “my brothers” or “my brothers and sisters”, and means “my parents”.
| Male | Female | Group |
|---|---|---|
| (father) | (mother) | (parents) |
| (brother) | (sister) | (brothers and sisters) |
| (son) | (daughter) | (children) |
| (grandfather) | (grandmother) | (grandparents) |
| (uncle) | (aunt) | (uncles and aunts) |
| (nephew) | (niece) | (nephews and nieces) |
No: saying “not”
To make a sentence negative, put directly before the verb: (He isn't in the photo), (I don't have any brothers or sisters). Spanish has no extra word like “don't” or “doesn't”.
When you answer a question with “no”, you often say twice: the first is the answer, the second one makes the verb negative.
- Mi padre no está en la foto.My father isn't in the photo.
- No tengo hijos.I don't have any children.
- ¿Es tu hermana? No, no es mi hermana.Is she your sister? No, she isn't my sister.
More in the grammar: Articles: el, la, los, las, un, una · Nouns: gender and plural · Possessives: mi, tu, su, nuestro… · Questions and negation · Spanish numbers: from 0 to a million · Subject pronouns: yo, tú, usted, vosotros… · Tener and hay
New words
- Mira.Look. · informal ()
- la familiafamily · feminine
- ¿Quién es?Who is it? / Who's that?
- el chico / la chicaboy, young man / girl, young woman
- el hermano / la hermanabrother / sister
- tener… añosto be… years old
- la mujerwoman; also wife · feminine
- la madremother · feminine
- el amigo / la amigafriend (male / female)
- el padrefather · masculine
- ¿Tienes hermanos?Do you have any brothers or sisters?
- el hijo / la hijason / daughter
- ¿Cuántos años tienes?How old are you?
- el sobrino / la sobrinanephew / niece
Practise
1.How do you ask a friend how old they are?
2.Complete with the right form of .
My brother is twenty.
3.Write “my” in Spanish.
They're my parents.
4.Put the words in order.
Tap the words below in the right order.My father isn't in the photo.
5.Match the family words.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
6.Sara tells Marta about Jorge's mother. Which is correct?
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
Tengo un hermano y una hermana.
I have a brother and a sister.
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.