German Family Words (Familie, Bruder, Schwester)
After this lesson you can introduce your family and say how people are related.
Übungen
Eight exercises on what you just watched. Get 80% and the lesson is marked done and added to your A1 progress.
1 / 8 · Type the missing word
2 / 8 · Type the missing word
3 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
This is my father.
4 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
My mother is called Anna.
5 / 8 · Choose
Which article goes with Schwester?
6 / 8 · Choose
Which article goes with Vater?
7 / 8 · Choose
Which article goes with Kind?
8 / 8 · Choose
What is a female cousin in German?
In short
German family words follow gender exactly: men take der (der Vater, der Bruder, der Onkel), women take die (die Mutter, die Schwester, die Tante). That article then decides the possessive — mein Bruder for der words, meine Schwester for die words.
How it works
Family vocabulary is one of the rare corners of German where grammatical gender lines up with real-world gender, so for once you can trust your intuition. Men are der, women are die. Der Vater, der Bruder, der Opa, der Onkel; die Mutter, die Schwester, die Oma, die Tante.
Cousins show the pattern most clearly, because German splits a word English keeps single. Der Cousin is a male cousin, die Cousine a female one — the -e ending marks the feminine form. You will see this -e again and again across German (der Freund / die Freundin uses -in for the same job).
Once you know the article, the possessive follows automatically. With der and das words, mein takes no ending: mein Bruder, mein Kind. With die words — feminine and all plurals — add an -e: meine Schwester, meine Eltern. So the question is never "is it mein or meine?" but "is the noun der or die?" Answer that first and the ending takes care of itself.
| German | English | Article |
|---|---|---|
| der Vater | father | der |
| die Mutter | mother | die |
| der Bruder | brother | der |
| die Schwester | sister | die |
| der Sohn | son | der |
| die Tochter | daughter | die |
| der Opa / Großvater | grandpa / grandfather | der |
| die Oma / Großmutter | grandma / grandmother | die |
| der Onkel | uncle | der |
| die Tante | aunt | die |
| der Cousin | male cousin | der |
| die Cousine | female cousin | die |
| das Kind | child | das |
| die Eltern | parents | die (plural only) |
| Noun type | Possessive | Example |
|---|---|---|
| der — masculine | mein (no ending) | mein Bruder |
| das — neuter | mein (no ending) | mein Kind |
| die — feminine | meine (+e) | meine Schwester |
| die — plural | meine (+e) | meine Eltern |
Examples
- Das ist mein Vater.This is my father.
- Meine Mutter heißt Anna.My mother is called Anna.
- Ich habe einen Bruder und zwei Schwestern.I have one brother and two sisters.
- Meine Eltern wohnen in Hamburg.My parents live in Hamburg.
- Mein Opa ist achtzig Jahre alt.My grandpa is eighty years old.
- Meine Tante kommt aus Österreich.My aunt is from Austria.
- Wie heißt deine Schwester?What is your sister called?
- Sein Cousin wohnt in Berlin.His cousin lives in Berlin.
- Wir haben zwei Kinder.We have two children.
- Meine Familie ist groß.My family is big.
Mistakes to avoid
✗ mein Mutter
✓ meine Mutter
Mutter is a die word, so the possessive needs the -e. Check the article before you choose mein or meine — always in that order.
✗ meine Bruder
✓ mein Bruder
Bruder is der, so no ending. Adding -e to a masculine noun is the mirror image of the same mistake.
✗ mein Eltern
✓ meine Eltern
Eltern is plural-only, and plurals behave like feminine here: they take meine.
✗ Ich habe ein Bruder.
✓ Ich habe einen Bruder.
After haben the noun is the object, so masculine ein becomes einen. That is the accusative — lesson 26.
Wortschatz
The words from this lesson.
| die Familie | family | |
| die Eltern | parents | plural only |
| die Geschwister | siblings | plural only |
| der Mann | man; husband | |
| die Frau | woman; wife | |
| das Kind | child | plural: die Kinder |
| der Sohn | son | |
| die Tochter | daughter | |
| verheiratet | married | |
| ledig | single, unmarried |
Kulturnotiz
Der Mann and die Frau do double duty: they mean "man" and "woman", but also "husband" and "wife" — mein Mann, meine Frau. There is no everyday equivalent of "my spouse". Note also that Germans use Du with all family members without exception, however formal the setting; addressing a grandparent as Sie would be genuinely strange.
Common questions
+How do I know whether to use mein or meine?
Look at the noun's article. der and das words take mein with no ending; die words — feminine nouns and every plural — take meine. The article decides, not the meaning.
+Why does German have two words for cousin?
Because German marks gender on the noun itself. Der Cousin is male, die Cousine female, with the -e signalling the feminine. English lost this distinction; German keeps it.
+What is the difference between Oma and Großmutter?
Register only. Oma and Opa are the warm everyday words, used in families the way "grandma" and "grandpa" are. Großmutter and Großvater are formal, used in writing or when being precise.
+Is Geschwister singular or plural?
Plural only — it means "siblings" collectively. Ich habe zwei Geschwister. There is no common singular form; you name the brother or sister instead.