Family members in German

The German family unit is basically made up of parents and their children. From the parents, the extended family grows with a variety of people forming a small circle of the family. Let’s look at the German vocabulary that describes a typical family and its members. The family members vocabularies are tested in the Goethe A1 exam. (Also read: Geothe Zertifikat German A1 exam)

First, we’ll meet the oldest family members.

Older family members in German

The opa (grandpa) and oma (grandma) are more affectionate names.

Deutsch	Englisch
die Urgroßeltern	great-grandparents
der Urgroßvater	great-grandfather
die Urgroßmutter	great-grandmother
die Großeltern	grandparents
der Großvater	grandfather
der Opa	grandpa
die Großmutter	grandmother
die Oma	grandma
der Schwiegervater	father-in-law
die Schwiegermutter	mother-in-law
der Senior	senior citizen (male)
die Seniorin	senior citizen (female)

The word groß can be prefixed with other family members in German, who are more than a generation apart. For instance,

• der Großonkel (great-uncle)
• die Großtante (great-aunt)
• der Großneffe (great-nephew)
• die Großnichte (great-niece)
• der Großenkel (great-grandson)
• die Großenkelin (great-granddaughter)

Parents, partners, and relatives

Like opa and oma, the words such as vati, mutti, papa, and mama are more affectionate names.

Deutsch	Englisch
die Eltern	parents
der Vater	father
die Mutter	mother
der Vati	daddy
die Mutti	mommy
die Papa	dad
die Mama	mom
der Ehemann (ä, -er)	Husband
die Ehefrau (-en)	Wife
die Verwandten	relatives
der Onkel	undle
die Tante	aunt
der Schwager	brother-in-law
die Schwägerin	sister-in-law
der Partner (-)	Partner / Significant Other (m)
die Partnerin (-nen)	Partner / Significant Other (f)
der Familienstand	Marital Status
ledig	Single
verheiratet	Married
geschieden	Divorced

Children and family structure

The collective noun Gebrüder meaning brothers, is no longer used to talk about a group of brothers in general. But you find this noun in company names,

• Die Gebrüder Keller (The Keller Brothers)

Deutsch	Englisch
das Kind	child
das Baby	baby
das Kleinkind (-er)	Toddler
der Teenager (-)	Teenager
der Erwachsene (-n)	Adult
der Sohn	Son
die Tochter	daughter
der Zwilling (-e)	Twin
die Geschwister	brothers and sisters, siblings
der Bruder	brother
die Schwester	Sister
der Schwiegersohn	son-in-law
die Schwiegertochter	daughter-in-law
der Enkel	grandson
die Enkelin	granddaughter
der Neffe	nephew
die Nichte	niece
der Vetter, der Cousin	cousin (male)
die Kusine, die Cousine	cousin (female)

The adjectives for young and old are often used in the comparative or superlative to show the relationship of age between siblings or relatives:

• mein jüngerer Bruder (my younger brother)
• meine jüngste Schwester (my youngest sister)
• ihr älterer Onkel (her older uncle)
• ihre älteste Tante (her oldest aunt)