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AutorenbildNanami Natsuko Yoshihara

Must know 55 Family Members' vocabulary words in Japanese! [A1/JLPTn5-n4]

PODCAST EP_15
Must know 55 Family Members' vocabulary words in Japanese! [A1/JLPTn5-n4]
Must know 55 Family Members' vocabulary words in Japanese! [A1/JLPTn5-n4]



Today, we are going to learn vocabulary about KAZOKU 家族 and Shinseki 親戚 relatives.


First, let’s learn vocabulary about family and relatives, which you can use in CASUAL SITUATION when you talk with your family and friends.


Parents: 両親 りょうしん

Father: お父さん おとうさん

Mother: お母さん おかあさん

Siblings & Brothers: 兄弟 きょうだい

Older brother: お兄さん

Younger brother: 弟 おとうと

Older Sister: お姉さん おねえさん

Younger sister 妹

Sisters: 姉妹 しまい


Husband: 主人 しゅじん (my husband)

Wife: 妻 つま (my wife)

Kid(s): 子供 こども

Son: 息子 むすこ

Daughter: 娘 むすめ


Grandfather: お祖父さん おじいさん

Great grandfather: ひいお祖父さん ひいおじいさん

Grandmother: お祖母さん おばあさん

Great Grandmother: ひいお祖母さん ひいおばあさん

Grandchild: 孫 まご

Great grandchild: ひ孫 ひまご

Uncle: 叔父さん おじさん

Aunt: 叔母さん おばさん

Nephew: 甥 おい

Niece: 姪 めい

Cousin: 従兄弟 いとこ

Relatives: 親戚 しんせき


Father-in-law is ぎりのお父さん in Japanese.

“GiLi no” means IN-LAW. You say the words at the beginning.

How do you say, Mother-in-law?

義理のお母さん

How about Older brother-in-law?

義理のお兄さん

How about Younger brother-in-law?

義理の弟

How about Older sister-in-law?

義理のお姉さん

How about Younger sister-in-law?

義理の妹



Next, we will learn terms we should use in FORMAL situations, like job interviews and customer service.


First, you must know the fundamental part of Japanese social customs. We distinguish between IN-groups (Uchi) and OUT-groups (Soto).

  • You and your family are considered IN-groups.

  • The interviewers of your job interview and your customers are considered OUT groups.

When talking with someone from OUT-groups, you should raise up the people from OUT-groups while lowering you and the people from IN-groups.

Simply put:

  • We use Humble form and Humble terms for IN-groups.

  • We use Respect form and Respect terms for OUT-groups.


For example:

I am talking about our family with Mr.Tanaka, my customer. I especially want to talk about my mother and his mother.

The Humble term for the mother is 母 used for IN-groups, and I use it for my mother.

The Respect term for the mother is お母さん used for OUT-groups, and I use it for Tanaka’s mother.


母は東京に住んでいます。

My mother lives in Tokyo.

田中さんのお母さんはお元気ですか。Tanaka-san no Okaasan means YOUR MOTHER.

How is your mother doing?


I hope you understand how to use the Humble and Respect terms.



Then, let’s learn other terms.

Father:

The Humble term is 父, which means my father. The respect term is お父さん, which means your father.


Mother:

The Humble term is 母, which means my mother. The respect term is お母さん, which means your mother.


Parents:

The Humble term is 両親, which means my parents. The respect term is ご両親, which means your parents.


Siblings & Brothers:

The Humble term is 兄弟, which means my siblings. The respect term is ご兄弟, which means your siblings.


Older brother:

The Humble term is 兄. The respect term is お兄さん


Younger brother:

The Humble term is 弟. The respect term is 弟さん


Older Sister:

The Humble term is 姉. The respect term is お姉さん


Younger sister

The Humble term is 妹. The respect term is 妹さん


Sisters:

The Humble term is 姉妹. The respect term is ご姉妹


Husband:

The Humble term is 主人, and we have one more: 夫. The respect term is ご主人


Wife:

The Humble term is 妻. The respect term is 奥さん


Kid(s):

The Humble term is 子供. The respect term is お子さん


Son:

The Humble term is 息子. The respect term is 息子さん


Daughter:

The Humble term is 娘. The respect term is 娘さん


Grandfather:

The Humble term is 祖父. The respect term is お祖父さん


Great grandfather:

The Humble term is 曽祖父. The respect term is ひいおじいさん


Grandmother:

The Humble term is 祖母. The respect term is お祖母さん


Great Grandmother:

The Humble term is 曽祖母. The respect term is ひいおばあさん


Grandchild:

The Humble term is 孫. The respect term is お孫さん

Great grandchild:

The Humble term is ひ孫. The respect term is ご曾孫

Uncle:

The Humble term is 叔父. The respect term is 叔父さん

Aunt:

The Humble term is 叔母. The respect term is 叔母さん

Nephew:

The Humble term is 甥. The respect term is 甥御さん

Niece:

The Humble term is 姪. The respect term is 姪御さん

Relatives:

The Humble term is 親戚. The respect term is ご親戚


Father-in-law:

“GiLi no” means IN-LAW.

The Humble term is 義理の父. The respect term is 義理のお父さん


How about Mother-in-law?

The Humble term is 義理の母. The respect term is 義理のお母さん


How about Older brother-in-law?

The Humble term is 義理の兄. The respect term is 義理のお兄さん


How about Younger brother-in-law?

The Humble term is 義理の弟. The respect term is 義理の弟さん


How about Older sister-in-law?

The Humble term is 義理の姉. The respect term is 義理のお姉さん


How about Younger sister-in-law?

The Humble term is 義理の妹. The respect term is 義理の妹さん



Lastly, I want to make sure the counterword of people.

The counterword is 人=NIN.


For example, 3 people are 3NIN, 5 people are 5 NIN.

How about 8 people?

8 NIN.


Can you count from 1 to 10 in Japanese, right?

1 is ichi

2 is Ni

3 is San

4 is YON

5 is GO

6 is Loku

7 is Nana

8 is Hachi

9 is Quu

10 is Juu

You can learn Numbers in episode 13.

We have 3 exceptions: 1 person, 2 people, and 4 people. Let’s learn them!

1 person is HI TO LI, not ichi NIN

2 people is Hu Ta Li, not ni NIN

4 people is Yo Ni N, not YON NIN.


For 7 people, we can say both Nana NIN and Shichi NIN.


Family is 家族 かぞく in Japanese.

私は3人家族です。means “We are a family of 3.”


How do you say, “We are a family of 4”?

私は4人家族です。


How do you say, “We are a family of 5”?

私は5人家族です。


How do you ask someone, ‘’How many people are in your family?”

何人家族ですか。


NAN itself means WHAT, and in typical Japanese, we create question sentences with NAN + A COUNTERWORD. NAN+NIN means HOW MANY PEOPLE.

KA at the end of the sentence is the QUESTION MARKER.

何人家族ですか。


私は6人家族です。

We are a family of 6.


Can you ask someone: “How many siblings do you have?”

何人兄弟ですか。


3人兄弟です。

3人兄弟です means I’m one of three siblings. 3人兄弟です。


How do you say, “I’m one of two siblings.”?

2人兄弟です。


How do you say, “I’m an only child. I don’t have any siblings.”?

一人っ子です。一人っ子です。



Today, we learned vocabulary about family and relatives.

I hope you enjoyed it!


Thank you for listening!





This episode is for Japanese A1=N5/N4 learners. 

Don't only listen to the audio, repeat what you hear while listening! Move your mouth!


 

Nanami Yoshihara

Hi! I'm Nanami. I'm a Japanese teacher and run this website. 

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