Let’s talk about our dearest thing in the world: our family. In order to introduce your family members, you’ll need to know the words “my/his/her/our” in Spanish. Don’t worry, with the help of our dialogues and simple explanations you’ll have any Spanish grammar figured out.
Vocabulary
In this lesson, we will practice the following vocabulary. Read the words, listen to the audio and remember them:
familia
family
amigo / amiga
male friend / female friend
nombre
name
apellido
surname
madre
mother
padre
father
hermano / hermana
brother / sister
abuelo / abuela
grandfather / grandmother
marido
husband
mujer
wife / woman
hijo / hija
son / daughter
Te presento a…
Let me introduce you to…/ Meet…
Os presento a…
Let me introduce you to…/ Meet…
¿Quién es?
Who is this?
¿Quiénes son?
Who are these (people)?
mexicano / mexicana
Mexican man / Maxican woman
argentino / argentina
Argentinian man / Argentinian woman
Dialogues
Listen carefully to the following Spanish dialogues. They will help you understand this lesson’s vocabulary in the right context:
Dialogue 1
Hola, Antonio. Te presento a mi familia. Este es mi padre. Se llama Iván. Y esta es mi madre. Se llama Elena.
Hello, Antonio. Meet my family. This is my father. His name is Ivan. And this is my mother. Her name is Elena.
Encantado.
Nice to meet you.
Te presento a mi amiga. Se llama Vanessa.
Let me introduce you to my friend. Her name is Vanessa.
¿De dónde es tu amiga?
Where is your friend from?
Es argentina. Es de Buenos Aires. ¿Y de dónde son tus padres?
She is Argentinian. She is from Buenos Aires. And where are your parents from?
Son de Canadá, de Toronto.
They are from Canada, from Toronto.
Dialogue 2
Perdona, Marcos, ¿quiénes son? ¿Son tus amigos?
Excuse me, Marcos, who are these? Are they your friends?
No. Este es mi hermano. Se llama Andrés. Y esta es su mujer. Se llama Carmen. Es mexicana.
No. This is my brother. His name is Andres. And this is his wife. Her name is Carmen. She is Mexican.
Encantada. Marcos, te presento a mis amigas: Silvia y Emma. Son inglesas.
Nice to meet you. Marcos, meet my friends: Silvia and Emma. They are English.
¿Son de Londres?
Are they from London?
No, son de Mánchester.
No, they are from Manchester.
Dialogue 3
Hola Ana, ¿qué tal?
Hello, Ana, how are you?
Muy bien, gracias. ¿Quienes son? ¿Son tus hijos?
Very well, thank you. And who are these? Are they your children?
Sí, son mis hijos. Mi hija se llama Elena y mi hijo se llama Martín. Son estudiantes.
Yes, these are my children. My daughter’s name is Elena, and my son’s name is Martin. They are students.
Encantada.
Nice to meet you.
Text
Read the following text in Spanish. You can check the English translation if you need help. Also, listen to the audio and try to understand everything:
¡Hola! Soy José Martínez Campo. José es mi nombre. Martínez Campo son mis apellidos.
Hello! I’m Jose Martinez Campo. Jose is my name. Martinez Campo are my surnames.
Os presento a mi familia. Estos son mis padres. Mi padre se llama Alejandro y mi madre se llama Ángela.
Meet my family. These are my parents. My father’s name is Alejandro, and my mother’s name is Angela.
Estos son mis abuelos. Mi abuelo es profesor. Y estos son mis hijos: mi hijo Pedro y mi hija Noelia. Son estudiantes.
These are my grandparents. My grandfather is a teacher. And these are my children: my son Pedro and my daughter Noelia. They are students.
Spanish grammar
We will now study the grammar used in this lesson:
Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, our etc.
What are possessive pronouns and why do we need them? These pronouns help us express who the thing belongs to: my friend or your friend. You’ll see that Spanish possessive pronouns “work” almost like English ones. The only difference is that Spanish pronouns also have plural forms. Let’s have a look at them:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| my | mi | mis |
| your (informal singular) | tu | tus |
| his | su | sus |
| her | su | sus |
| our | nuestro / nuestra | nuestros / nuestras |
| your (informal plural) | vuestro / vuestra | vuestros / vuestras |
| your (formal) | su | sus |
| their | su | sus |
These examples will help you understand how to use the singular and the plural forms:
- mi amigo (my friend) – mis amigos (my friends)
- tu hermano (your brother) – tus hermanos (your brothers)
Some pronouns also have feminine forms. Have a look at their endings:
- nuestro hermano (our brother) – nuestra hermana (our sister)
- nuestros hermanos (our brothers) – nuestras hermanas (our sisters)
Pay attention to the forms “his/her/their”. All of them are translated as “su / sus”. Thus, the words “su hermano” could mean “his brother”, “her brother” or “their brother” and it’s impossible to know the exact meaning unless you have more context.
The gender of Spanish words
As you already know, Spanish nouns can be of masculine or feminine gender.
Words of masculine gender usually end in “о” or in a consonant: amigo, árbol (tree).
Words of feminine gender usually end in “a“: amiga, or one of the following endings: -ión, -tad, -dad, -tud, -ez: revolución (revolution), verdad (truth). There are exceptions that you will have to memorise. So far, the only word that you have to remember separately is “nombre” (name) – masculine.
The words “este / esta / estos / estas”
To introduce other people, we usually use “This is / These are”. In Spanish, apart from singular and plural, you also have to differentiate between masculine and feminine:
- Este es mi amigo (This is my male friend) – masculine singular
- Esta es mi amiga (This is my female friend) – feminine singular
- Estos son mis amigos (These are my friends, male or mixed) – masculine plural
- Estas son mis amigas (These are my female friends) – feminine plural
About Spanish culture
Why do they have so many names and surnames?
In most Hispanic countries a person has one or several names and two surnames. The names can be simple (e.g. Manuel) or compound (e.g. José Antonio). A newly born child gets two surnames: father’s first surname + mother’s first surname. In this way we get the name José Antonio Gonzalez García, in which José Antonio is a compound name, Gonzalez is the father’s first surname, and García is the mother’s first surname. On getting married a woman never takes her husband’s surname.
Let me introduce you to… / Meet…
Let’s pay attention to the phrase that came across in the dialogues: Te presento a… / Os presento a… Let’s see all the possible ways of using this phrase:
- Te presento a mi amigo. – Let me introduce my friend to you (informal singular).
- Os presento a mi amigo. – Let me introduce my friend to you (informal plural).
- Le presento a mi amigo. – Let me introduce my friend to you (formal singular).
- Les presento a mi amigo. – Let me introduce my friend to you (formal plural).
Test
Check if you know this lesson:
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