Learn the French family vocabulary and also some fun family French idioms. Do you know what “il ne faut pas pousser Mémé dans les orties” means? Find out!
Hi. My name is Helen and I’m a French immersion teacher with French Today in Lyon.
Recently, I wrote an article about my family vacation in Martinique (see picture above), and Camille asked me to illustrate it with the French vocabulary for the family. But I provided such a complete list that Camille said it was worth doing a whole article about it.
So here is the French vocabulary list for the family – if you think of more French family words, please add them in the Disqus comment section below in French and English, and Camille will add them to this list! Merci !
1 – French Family Vocabulary
- la famille – family
- la famille recomposée – stepfamily
- la famille monoparentale – single-parent family
- la famille homoparentale – homoparental family
- les membres de la famille – family members
- la famille élargie – extended family
- la belle-famille – family-in-law
- le mari – husband
- la femme – wife
- les parents – parents : like in English: Mom and Dad but also family members, kinfolks…
- le père/ papa – father/ dad(dy)
- la mère/ maman – mother/ mum(my)
- les enfants – children
- le fils – son
- la fille – daughter
- le frère – brother
- la sœur – sister
- l’aîné(-e) – the eldest
- le cadet (m)/ la cadette (f) – the younger, youngest
- le/la benjamin(-e) – the youngest
- les jumeaux (m)/ les jumelles (f) – twins
- les triplé(-e)s – triplets
- le demi-frère – half-brother or stepbrother
- la demi-soeur – half-sister or stepsister
- le beau-père – father-in-law or stepfather
- la belle-mère – mother-in-law or stepmother
- le beau-fils – son-in-law or stepson
- la belle-fille – daughter-in-law or stepdaughter
- le beau-frère – brother-in-law
- la belle-soeur– sister-in-law
- les grands-parents – grandparents
- le grand-père/ pépé/ papy – grandfather/ grandpa
- la grand-mère/mémé/mamy – grandmother/ grandma
- les petits-enfants – grandchildren
- le petit-fils – grandson
- la petite-fille – granddaughter
- les arrière-grands-parents – great grandparents
- l’arrière-grand-père – great grandfather
- l’arrière-grand-mère – great grandmother
- les arrière-petits-enfants – great grandchildren
- l’arrière-petit-fils – great grandson
- l’arrière-petite-fille – great granddaughter
- l’oncle/ tonton – uncle
- la tante/ tata – aunt/ auntie
- le neveu – nephew
- la nièce – niece
- le cousin – cousin (m)
- la cousine – cousin (f)
- le cousin germain/ la cousine germaine – first cousin
- le cousin issu de germain/ la cousine issue de germaine – second cousin
- les proches – relatives
The French family vocabulary is listed with audio and illustrated within the story of Camille’s beginner level audiobook method.

2 – French Family Idioms
- laver son linge sale en famille – lit. to wash your dirty laundry in family : to settle conflicts in private
- être prêt à vendre père et mère pour… quelque chose – lit. to be ready to sell mom and dad for… : to betray by interest
- avoir un air de famille – to have some similarities
- être le parent pauvre – lit. to be the poor parent : to be the forgotten one
- une âme-soeur – a soul mate
- Un peu, mon neveu! – colloquial. Lit. A bit my nephew! Meaning: of course! Needless to say!
- Il ne faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties! – Lit. you shouldn’t push Grandma in the nettles: you must not exaggerate!
- C’est de famille! – It runs in the family!
- être de bonne famille – to be born into a well-educated family
- une famille de mots – a word family
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