How to Talk About Your Spouse and Children

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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 spouse and children in German.

For example, "My husband, my son, my daughters, and me." is

Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

Aylin Ahrens is studying with her German teacher, Finja Fischer.

The teacher notices a picture on Aylin's computer and asks about the people visible in the picture.

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

Mann

"husband"

Mann

Sohn

"son"

Sohn

Töchter

"daughter"

Töchter

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.

Note: Finja uses formal German.

Ready?

Ist das Ihre Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter, und ich.

Once more with the English translation.

Ist das Ihre Familie?

"Is this your family?"

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

"Yes. This is my family. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Finja asks,

"Is this your family?"

Ist das Ihre 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 that determines the form of other words in the sentence.

Before this is Ihre, meaning "your," in this formal context. Ihre.

Note, Ihre fundamentally means "hers," or "theirs," depending on the context, but it’s also a formal way to say "your," when speaking to someone directly using formal German. Ihre. Ihre.

Now, you might be more familiar with deine, an informal word for "your," as in deine Familie, "your family." As this is a conversation between two adults that don’t know each other very well, the formal form, Ihre, is more appropriate.

Ihre is feminine and singular to agree with Familie.

Together, it's Ihre Familie, "your family." Ihre 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 Ihre Familie? "Is this your family?" Ist das Ihre Familie?

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

Ist das Ihre Familie?

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

Let’s take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Aylin says,

"Yes. This is my family. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

This starts with ja, meaning, "yes." Ja. Ja.

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

Ist das Ihre Familie?

After this, Aylin points to the picture and says, Das ist meine Familie. "This is my family."

Let’s start with the word, 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," in this context. Das. Das.

Next is ist, "is." Ist.

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

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

After this is mein Mann. "My husband." Mein Mann.

Let's start with mann, "husband." Mann. Mann.

Mann is masculine and singular.

Before this is mein. "My." Mein.

Mein is masculine and singular to agree with Mann.

Mein Mann.

Next, mein Sohn. "My son." Mein Sohn.

Let's start with Sohn, "son." Sohn. Sohn.

Sohn is masculine and singular.

Before this is mein, "my." Mein.

Mein is masculine and singular to agree with Sohn.

Mein Sohn.

Next is meine Töchter, "my daughters." Meine Töchter.

Let’s start with Töchter. "daughters." Töchter. Töchter.

Remember, in German, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Töchter is feminine and plural — a fact that determines the form of other words in the sentence.

Töchter is the plural form of Tochter, "daughter." Tochter.

Before this is meine, "my." meine.

Meine is feminine and plural to agree with Töchter.

Meine Töchter.

To refer to a group of children, "my children," meine Kinder. Meine Kinder.

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 Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich. "Yes. This is my family. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

The pattern is:

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

This is my family. 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 wife, your son, your daughters, and you.

Frau is "wife." Frau. Frau. This is a feminine noun. Therefore "my wife" is meine Frau. Meine Frau.

Say

"This is my family. My wife, my son, my daughters, and me."

Ready?

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

"This is my family. My wife, my son, my daughters, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

In German, the words for "wife," Frau, and "husband," Mann, literally mean "woman" and "man," respectively.

There are more accurate words for this translation:

Ehefrau, "wife." Ehefrau. Ehefrau.

Ehemann, "husband." Ehemann. Ehemann

However, those words are mainly used in very formal situations, such as when written on an official document. In Germany, people usually refer to their spouses as meine Frau, literally "my woman," and mein Mann, literally "my man."

Again, the key pattern is

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

This is my family. 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 Mann, mein Sohn, meine Tochter und ich.

"This is my family. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Tochter und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

"This is my family. My wife, my son, my daughters, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, meine Tochter und ich.

"This is my family. My wife, my daughter, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, meine Tochter und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Sohn, mein Mann und ich.

"This is my family. My son, my husband, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Sohn, mein Mann und ich.

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, meine Söhne und ich.

"This is my family. My husband, my sons, and me."

Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, meine Söhne und ich.

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?"

Don’t forget the article.

meine Familie

And do you remember how Aylin says,

"This is my family."

Das ist meine Familie.

Do you remember how to say "husband?"

Mann

And how to say "my husband?"

mein Mann

Do you remember how to say "son?"

Sohn

And how to say "my son?"

mein Sohn

Do you remember how to say "daughter?"

Tochter

And do you remember how to say "daughters?"

Töchter

And how to say "my daughters?"

meine Töchter

Do you remember how to say "and?"

und

And how to say "me?"

ich

Do you remember how Aylin says,

"Yes. This is my family. My husband, my son, my daughters, and me."

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Töchter und ich.

Do you remember the formal way to say "your family?"

Ihre Familie

And do you remember how Finja asks,

"Is this your family?"

Ist das Ihre Familie?

Do you remember how to say "wife?"

Frau

And how to say "my wife?"

meine Frau

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Arnold's colleague, Benjamin Bauer.

You have a wife, Frau, and a daughter, Tochter.

Respond to Arnold’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. Meine Frau, meine Tochter und ich.

Listen again and repeat.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, meine Tochter und ich.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Meine Frau, meine Tochter, und ich.

Let’s try another.

Imagine you're Annemarie Adler.

You have a husband, Mann, daughter, Tochter, and a son, Sohn.

Ready?

Ist das Ihre Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, meine Tochter, mein Sohn und ich.

Listen again and repeat.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, meine Tochter, mein Sohn und ich.

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you're Arnold's friend, Gundel Gundermann.

You have a husband, Mann, and a son, Sohn.

Ready?

Ist das deine Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn und ich.

Listen again and repeat.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn und ich.

Did you notice how Arnold uses deine Familie when asking about his friend’s and colleague’s families?

Ist das deine Familie?

"Is this your family?"

In less formal situations, like speaking with a friend or close colleague, the less formal, deine, is more appropriate.

deine, "your." deine. deine.

Note: Deine is feminine and singular to agree with Familie.

In this lesson, you learned how to talk about your spouse and children in German. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of talking about family. Let’s review the family members.

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 "mother”?

Mutter.

Do you remember how to say "father”?

Vater.

Imagine you're Ben Lee, and you have a father, Vater, mother, Mutter and sister, Schwester.

Respond to your classmate Uli Ulrich , who sees a picture in your wallet, and asks for the people in it.

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.

Now imagine that you're Ben's mother, Karen Lee , and your friend asks about the people in the picture on your phone. Answer that you have a husband, Mann, son, Sohn, and a daughter, Tochter.

Ist das Ihre Familie?

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Tochter und ich.

Listen again, and repeat.

Ja. Das ist meine Familie. Mein Mann, mein Sohn, meine Tochter und ich.

Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Talk About Family unit of this course.

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

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