60 French Family Terms & Expressions

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 !

French Family Vocabulary

1. la famille – family
2. la famille recomposée – stepfamily
3. la famille monoparentale – single-parent family
4. la famille homoparentale – homoparental family
5. les membres de la famille – family members
6. la famille élargie – extended family
7. la belle-famille – family-in-law
8. le mari – husband
9. la femme – wife
10. les parents – parents : like in English: Mom and Dad but also family members, kinfolks…
11. le père/ papa – father/ dad(dy)
12. la mère/ maman – mother/ mum(my)
13. les enfants – children
14. le fils – son
15. la fille – daughter
16. le frère – brother
17. la sœur – sister
18. l’aîné(-e) – the eldest
19. le cadet (m)/ la cadette (f) – the younger, youngest
20. le/la benjamin(-e) – the youngest
21. les jumeaux (m)/ les jumelles (f) – twins
22. les triplé(-e)s – triplets
23. le demi-frère – half-brother or stepbrother
24. la demi-soeur – half-sister or stepsister
25. le beau-père – father-in-law or stepfather
26. la belle-mère – mother-in-law or stepmother
27. le beau-fils – son-in-law or stepson
28. la belle-fille – daughter-in-law or stepdaughter
29. le beau-frère – brother-in-law
30. la belle-soeur– sister-in-law
31. les grands-parents – grandparents
32. le grand-père/ pépé/ papy – grandfather/ grandpa
33. la grand-mère/mémé/mamy – grandmother/ grandma
34. les petits-enfants – grandchildren
35. le petit-fils – grandson
36. la petite-fille – granddaughter
37. les arrière-grands-parents – great grandparents
38. l’arrière-grand-père – great grandfather
39. l’arrière-grand-mère – great grandmother
40. les arrière-petits-enfants – great grandchildren
41. l’arrière-petit-fils – great grandson
42. l’arrière-petite-fille – great granddaughter
43. l’oncle/ tonton – uncle
44. la tante/ tata – aunt/ auntie
45. le neveu – nephew
46. la nièce – niece
47. le cousin – cousin (m)
48. la cousine – cousin (f)
49. le cousin germain/ la cousine germaine – first cousin
50. le cousin issu de germain/ la cousine issue de germaine – second cousin
51. les proches – relatives

The French family vocabulary is listed with audio and illustrated within the story of Camille’s beginner level audiobook method.

French Family Idioms

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