Learning how to talk about family is an important step in mastering any new language, and German is no exception. Whether you’re planning a trip to Germany, studying the language for fun, or connecting with German-speaking relatives, knowing the essential vocabulary for family in German will help you communicate more effectively. 

In this blog article, you will find key vocabulary and phrases related to the theme. So, keep reading and don’t forget to press play to listen to the podcast episode and master your pronunciation. 

Basic terms for talking about family in German

If you are wondering ‘What is father in German?’, ‘How to say mum in German?’ or ‘How to say sister in German?’, fear not! We will start with the basics. Here are some of the most common vocabulary you need to have to talk about your family in German: 

• der Vater the father
• die Mutter the mother
• das Kind the child
• der Sohn the son
• die Tochter the daughter
• der Bruder the brother
• die Schwester the sister
• der Großvater the grandfather
• die Großmutter the grandmother
• der Enkel the grandson
• die Enkelin the granddaughter
• der Onkel the uncle
• die Tante the aunt
• der Cousin the (male) cousin
• die Cousine the (female) cousin

If you want to talk about your whole family, your parents or your grandparents, you can use one of these words:

• die Familie the family
• die Eltern the parents
• die Kinder the children
• die Großeltern the grandparents

Introducing family members in German

You already know how to introduce yourself in German, but to be able to introduce your family in German, you will need the terms you learned in the previous section and how to say ‘my’. As with anything in the language, this possessive pronoun changes  according to the noun gender and case: 

• meine Mutter my mom
• mein Bruder my brother
• meine Kinder my children

It is worth noting that for feminine and plural words, we use meine, and for masculine and neuter words, we use mein. Now that you are familiar with how to say ‘my’, you can form phrases using the expression ‘das ist’. 

The good news is that this expression does not change and it’s used to introduce males and females in the singular. Check it out: 

• Das ist mein Vater. This is my father.
• Das ist meine Cousine. This is my cousin. 
• Das ist mein Kind. This is my child.

Telling how someone else is called

To tell someone’s name, you will use the same verb we learned to say ‘I’m called…’ in German: the verb heißen. For example: 

• Mein Vater heißt Hans. My father is called Hans.
• Meine Mutter heißt Nicole. My mother is called Nicole.
• Meine Tochter heißt Janina. My daughter is called Janina.

You can also say: 

• er heißt …. he is called …
• sie heißt … she is called …

For talking about your father or your mum and daughter, without naming their relation to you. And don’t forget that the best way to solidify your newly found vocabulary of family in German is through practice. Try presenting your relatives and writing sentences to consolidate what you learned today.

But, what if you have more than one brother or sister? What if you want to say how many cousins you have? You’ll need to know the numbers from 1 to 10 in German! Check out the blog post on the subject!