How to Talk About Your Parents and Siblings

Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can Do German by GermanPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your parents and siblings in German.

For example, "Yes. This is my family. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me." is

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Anouk Ahrens is at a coffee shop with her classmate, Karla Konig.

Anouk is showing some pictures to Karla. Karla points to one of them and asks about the people visible in it.

Before you hear the conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

Vater

"father"

Vater

Mutter

"mother"

Mutter

Bruder

"brother"

Bruder

Schwester

"sister"

Schwester

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.

Ready?

Ist das deine Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Once more time with the English translation.

Ist das deine Familie?

"Is this your family?"

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

"Yes. This is my family. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me."

Let's break down the conversation.

Note: the speakers in this conversation use informal German.

Do you remember how Karla asks,

"Is this your family?"

Ist das deine Familie?

Let's start with the word, Familie, "family." Familie. Familie.

In German, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Familie is feminine and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.

Before Familie is deine, meaning "your." Deine. Deine.

Deine is feminine and singular to agree with Familie.

All together, deine Familie. "Your family." Deine Familie.

Moving to the start of the sentence, ist, "is," as in "Is this…" Ist. Ist.

Ist is from the verb sein, meaning "to be." Sein.

Next is das, "this," in this context. Das. Das.

All together, it’s Ist das deine Familie? "Is this your family?"

Ist das deine Familie?

Note the rising intonation of the sentence to indicate that it’s a question.

Ist das deine Familie?

Remember this question. You’ll hear it again later.

Let’s take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Anouk says,

"Yes. This is my family. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me."

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

This starts with the expression, ja, "yes." Ja. Ja.

It answers Karla’s yes-or-no question, "Is this your family?"

Ist das deine Familie?

After this, Anouk points to the picture, and says, Das ist meine Familie.

"This is my family."

Let’s start with Familie, "family." Familie.

Do you remember the gender and number of Familie?

Feminine and singular.

Before this is meine, meaning "my." Meine. Meine.

Meine is feminine and singular to agree with Familie.

Together, meine Familie translates as "my family." Meine Familie.

Moving to the start of the sentence, Das, "this." Das.

Next is ist, "is." Ist.

Ist is from the verb sein. "To be." Sein.

All together, Das ist meine Familie. "This is my family." Das ist meine Familie.

After this is mein Vater, "my father." mein Vater.

Vater, "father." Vater. Vater.

Vater is masculine and singular.

Before this is Mein, "my." Mein.

Mein is masculine and singular to agree with Vater.

Mein Vater.

Next is meine Mutter. "My mother." Meine Mutter.

Let's start with Mutter, "mother." Mutter. Mutter.

Mutter is feminine and singular.

Before this is Meine. "My." Meine.

Meine is feminine and singular to agree with Mutter.

Meine Mutter.

Next is meine Schwester, "my sister." Meine Schwester.

Schwester, "sister." Schwester. Schwester.

Schwester is feminine and singular.

Before this is Meine. "My." Meine.

Meine is feminine and singular to agree with Schwester.

Meine Schwester.

Next is mein Bruder, "my brother." mein Bruder.

Bruder, "brother." Bruder. Bruder.

Bruder is masculine and singular.

Before this is Mein. "My." Mein.

Mein is masculine and singular to agree with Bruder.

Mein Bruder.

Next is und, "and." Und. Und.

And last is ich, which translates as "me" in this context. Ich. Ich.

All together, Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich. "Yes. This is my family. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me."

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

The pattern is

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER und ich.

Yes. This is my family. FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER and me.

To use this pattern, simply replace the {FAMILY MEMBER} placeholders with the members of your family.

Note: this pattern requires a noun preceded by the corresponding possessive adjective.

Imagine your family members are your father, your mother, your sisters and you.

Schwestern, "sisters." Schwestern. Schwestern.

Schwestern is feminine and plural. Therefore, "my sisters" is meine Schwestern. meine Schwestern.

Say

"This is my family. My father, my mother, my sisters, and me."

Ready?

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwestern, und ich.

"This is my family. My father, my mother, my sisters, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwestern, und ich.

Mutter, "mother," and Vater, "father," are formal terms for parents. In German, you may hear children and teenagers referring to parents using more casual language: Mama, "mom," and Papa, "dad."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Papa, meine Mama, mein Bruder und ich.

Again, the key pattern is

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER und ich.

Yes. This is my family. FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER, FAMILY MEMBER and me.

Let’s look at some more examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

"This is my family. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwestern, und ich.

"This is my family. My father, my mother, my sisters, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwestern, und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Mutter, mein Vater, meine Schwester, und ich.

"This is my family. My mother, my father, my sister, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Mutter, mein Vater, meine Schwester und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Bruder, meine Schwester, meine Mutter, mein Vater und ich.

"This is my family. My brother, my sister, my mother, my father, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Bruder, meine Schwester, meine Mutter, mein Vater und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Eltern und ich.

"This is my family. My parents, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Eltern und ich.

Did you notice how the last person replaced mein Vater and meine Mutter with meine Eltern?

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Eltern, meine Schwester und ich.

"This is my family. My parents, and me."

The phrase, meine Eltern means "my parents." meine Eltern.

Let’s start with Eltern. "Parents." Eltern. Eltern.

Eltern is plural — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.

In German all plural nouns behave the same way whether they’re masculine, feminine or neuter.

Note: at this point in your language journey, it might be helpful to remember that the feminine singular definite article is usually the same as the plural definite article.

Before this is meine, meaning "my."

Meine. Meine.

Meine is feminine and plural to agree with Eltern.

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Eltern, meine Schwester und ich.

"This is my family. My parents, and me."

You should be aware of the plural form, but you won’t need it for this lesson.

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "yes?"

And how to say "family?"

Familie

Do you remember how to say "my family?"

meine Familie

Do you remember how Anouk says,

"This is my family."

Das ist meine Familie.

Do you remember how to say "father?"

Vater

And how to say "my father?"

mein Vater

Do you remember how to say "mother?"

Mutter

And how to say "my mother?"

meine Mutter

Do you remember how to say "sister?"

Schwester

And how to say "my sister?"

meine Schwester

Do you remember how to say "brother?"

Bruder

And how to say "my brother?"

mein Bruder

Do you remember how to say "and?"

und

And how to say "me?"

ich

Do you remember how Anouk says,

"Yes. This is my family. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, and me."

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Do you remember how to say "your family?"

deine Familie

And do you remember how Karla asks,

"Is this your family?"

Ist das deine Familie?

Let's practice.

Imagine you’re Aron Ahrens, Anouk’s brother.

And your family consists of your father, Vater, mother, Mutter, and two sisters, Schwestern.

Respond to your friend’s question referring to the photo.

Don’t forget to include the word for "yes" at the beginning of your response.

Ready?

Ist das deine Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwestern, und ich.

Listen again and repeat.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwestern, und ich.

Let’s try another.

Imagine you’re Anouk’s classmate, Uli Ulrich.

You have a father, Vater, mother, Mutter, and sister, Schwester.

Ready?

Ist das deine Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester und ich.

Listen again and repeat.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester und ich.

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you’re Anouk's classmate, Karla Konig.

You have a father, Vater, mother, Mutter, sister, Schwester, and brother, Bruder.

Ready?

Ist das deine Familie?

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Listen again and repeat.

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Vater, meine Mutter, meine Schwester, mein Bruder und ich.

Well Done! This is the end of this lesson.

In this lesson, you learned how to talk about your parents and siblings, an essential skill for talking about your family.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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