Family Members

the way two people or things are connected

NOTE: do NOT confuse this with relations

relative: a member of your family

relatives: members of your family

NOTE: do NOT confuse this with parent

Luke, Alex and Haley are siblings.

siblings means brothers or sisters. There is no equivalent for this word in French.

Haley and Dylan are the twins' parents.

a parent is a mother or a father

NOTE: parent has a different meaning in English than it does in French

Gloria and Mitchell are the same age, but she is his stepparent. She married his dad. She is his stepmother.

a parent who is married to the father or mother of a child, but who is not that child's own father or mother; a stepfather or stepmother

Phil is Frank's child. Haley, Alex, and Luke are Phil's children

child = a son or daughter of any age

NOTE: 1 child. 2 children

Claire is Alex's mother. Alex is Claire's daughter.

a female parent

Phil is Haley's father. Haley is Phil's daughter.

a male parent

Gloria is Claire and Mitch's stepmother because she married their father, Jay.

the husband or wife of someone's parent who is not their biological or legal father or mother

Gloria is Jay's second wife. He was married before.

a female partner in a marriage

Jay is Gloria's second husband. She was married before too.

a male partner in a marriage

Jay, on the left, is Gloria's husband. Xavier, on the right, is Gloria's ex-husband. Jay and Gloria are married. Gloria and Xavier are not married any more. Gloria is Xavier's ex-wife.

ex- means former

Haley is Dylan's spouse.

spouses = gender-neutral term for people legally married

Before Cam and Mitch got married, they were partners. Now they are husbands.

partner = either member of a couple in a sexual or romantic relationship that is regarded as permanent

Bill is Alex's significant other. They are dating. They are not married or engaged.

significant other = a person someone has an established romantic or sexual relationship with (without a legal contract)

Mitch is Claire's brother. They are siblings.

a male who has the same parents as another sibling

Joe is Jay and Gloria's son.

the male biological or adopted child

Joe is Manny's half-brother. They have the same mother. Their mother is Gloria. They have different fathers. Manny's father is Xavier and Joe's father is Jay.

brother

a brother or sister related through one parent only

Lily is Cam and Mitch's daughter.

the female biological or adopted child

Haley is Alex's big sister. Alex is Haley's little sister. They are both Luke's big sisters.

a female who has the same parents as another sibling

Manny is Mitch and Claire's stepbrother. Claire is Mitch's stepsister. Claire and Mitch's dad (Jay) married Manny's mom (Gloria).

not a parents' son or daughter, but the son or daughter of a person that one of your parents has married

Claire is Lily's aunt. Claire is Lily's father's sister.

the sister of someone's father or mother or the wife of someone's uncle

Mitch is Luke's uncle. Cameron is also Luke's uncle. Luke has two uncles.

the brother of someone's father or mother or the husband of someone's aunt

Haley is Mitchell's niece. He also has another niece, Haley's sister Alex.

a daughter of someone's brother or sister, or of someone's brother-in-law or sister-in-law

Cam and Mitch only have one nephew. Luke is their only nephew.

a son of someone's brother or sister (or of someone's brother-in-law or sister-in-law)

Jay is Lily's grandfather. She calls him grandpa. Jay has five grandchildren.

the father of someone's father or mother

When Haley had her babies, Claire became a very young grandmother.

the mother of someone's father or mother

Merle and Barb Tucker are Lily's paternal grandparents.

grandparent = a parent of someone's father or mother; a grandmother or grandfather

Luke is Jay's grandson. Luke is Claire's son and Jay is Claire's dad.

the son of someone's son or daughter

Alex is one of Jay's granddaughters. He has three granddaughters: Haley, Alex, and Lily.

the daughter of someone's son or daughter

Jay is looking at his new grandson. Jay now has five grandchildren. Two are his son's children and three are his daughter's children.

the child of someone's son or daughter

1 grandchild; 2 or more grandchildren

Lily and Alex are cousins. Alex's mom and Lily's dad are siblings.

a child of someone's uncle or aunt

NOTE: in English, the same word is used for both genders

Poppy and George are twins.

twins = children produced in the same pregnancy

Phil is married to Claire. Claire is Jay's daughter. This makes Phil Jay's son-in-law.

Claire is married to Phil. Phil is Frank's son. This makes Claire Frank's daughter-in-law.

the husband or wife someone's daughter or son

Claire is Dylan's mother-in-law and Phil is Dylan's father-in-law. Dylan married their daughter. His wife is their child.

the father or mother to someone's spouse or partner

Cam is Claire's brother-in-law. She is his sister-in-law.

the brother or sister of someone's spouse; the husband or wife of someone's sibling

Haley wasn't always with Dylan. She had many boyfriends. Her boyfriend in this picture is Andy.

a regular male companion

Manny has a girlfriend. His girlfriend is named Kylie. She is taller than he is.

a regular female companion

a person with whom your relationship is primarily sexual

NOTE: this is NOT a translation of amoureux/amoureuse

They are lovers. = Ils sont des amants.

When Jay and Gloria got married, she took his last name. Her married name is Gloria Pritchett. When she was married to Xavier, her married name was Gloria Delgado. Her maiden name was Ramirez.

the last name acquired by a woman through marriage

NOTE: in many places this is optional but in Quebec it is prohibited and you must keep your maiden name

Claire's maiden name was Pritchett. Then she married Phil and took his last name. Her married name is Dunphey.

The last name a woman is born with. The surname of a married or divorced woman prior to marriage

Lily's last name is hyphenated. Tucker is Cam's last name and Pritchett is Mitch's last name.

A hyphenated last name is when two last names are linked together with a hyphen. This is also called a double surname.

hyphen in English = trait d'union in French

Each picture shows four generations.

In a family, the word generation means all the people in one stage of the family. For example, your parents are one generation, you and your siblings are the next generation, and your children and their cousins are another generation.