Names of Family Members in Spanish

Names of Family Members in Spanish Who are the members of your family, how many are there, and what do they do? These are among the first questions you may be asked when you meet and first become acquainted with a native Spanish speaker. Depending on your age, you may be asked about your parents and what they do for a living, or you may be asked if you are married or have any children. Learn the words on this page as well as a few words to describe your family members, then bring a photo along, and even if youre a beginner and know only simple grammar, you can engage in conversation. Gender and Family Members Keep in mind that masculine plurals in Spanish can refer to mixed groups of males and females. Thus cuatro hijos can mean either four sons or four children, depending on the context. And while it may sound strange to the ear attuned to English, padres is a grammatically correct way to refer to both a mother and father, even though padre alone refers to a father. Also, note that the word pariente means relative in general; the Spanish-English cognate  doesnt refer only to parents. Vocabulary of the Family Following are the names for the most common relatives and some of the uncommon ones: padre: fathermadre: motherhermano: brotherhermana: sistersuegro: father-in-lawsuegra: mother-in-lawcuà ±ado: brother-in-lawcuà ±ada: sister-in-lawesposo, marido: husbandesposa, mujer: wifeabuelo: grandfatherabuela: grandmotherbisabuelo: great-grandfatherbisabuela: great-grandmothertatarabuelo: great-great-grandfathertatarabuela: great-great-grandmotherhijo: sonhija: daughternieto: grandsonnieta: granddaughterbisnieto: great-grandsonbisnieta: great-granddaughtertataranieto: great-great-grandsontataranieta: great-great-granddaughtertà ­o: uncletà ­a: aunttà ­o abuelo: great-uncletà ­a abuela: great-auntprimo: cousin (male)prima: cousin (female)primo carnal, prima carnal, primo hermano, prima hermana: first cousinprimo segundo, prima segunda: second cousinsobrino: nephewsobrina: niecepadrastro: stepfathermadrastra: stepmotherhijastro: stepsonhijastra: stepdaughterhermanastro: stepbrotherhermanastra: stepsistermedio hermano, hermano de padre, hermano de madre: half brothermedia her mana, hermana de padre, hermana de madre: half sister concuà ±ado: husband of ones spouses sisterconcuà ±ada: wife of ones spouses brotherconsuegro: father-in-law of ones son or daughterconsuegra: mother-in-law of ones son or daughterprometido, novio: fiance, boyfriend, groomprometida, novia: fiancà ©e, girlfriend, bridecompaà ±ero: male partner in a couple relationshipcompaà ±era: female partner in a couple relationshippadrino: godfathermadrina: godmotherahijado: godsonahijada: goddaughteramigo: friend (male)amiga: friend (female)conocido: acquaintance (male)conocida: acquaintance (female) Miscellaneous Family Terms La familia polà ­tica  or los polà ­ticos may be used as the equivalent of the in-laws. In other words, the terms refer to people to whom one is related by marriage. (In a different context, polà ­ticos can also refer to politicians.) The term amigovio or amigovia can be used colloquially in some areas to a person with whom a person has a romantic or sexual relationship that hasnt necessarily been formalized, such as a friend with benefits or a live-in lover where there isnt necessarily an expectation of marriage. This is a word of fairly recent origin, so its meaning isnt uniform in all areas. Note that while marido refers to a husband, there is no corresponding feminine form, marida, in standard use. Sample Sentences Referring to Family Members Here are some simple sample sentences you can use as models for your own: Mi padre es carpintero. (My father is a carpenter.)Mi tà ­a es dentista.(My aunt is a dentist.)Mi madre es ama de casa. (My mother is a housewife.)Tengo dos hermanos y una hermana. (I have two brothers and a sister.)Tengo cuatro hermanos. (This sentence can be seen as ambiguous by English speakers. It can be correctly translated as either I have four brothers or I have four siblings.)Tengo nueve tà ­os. (I have nine aunts and uncles or I have nine uncles.:)Mi madrastra vive en el estado de Nueva York. (My stepmother lives in New York state.)Mis sobrinas viven en Chicago. (My nieces live in Chicago.)Mi padre est muerto. (My father is dead.)Mi prima est muerta. (My female cousin is dead.)Mi madre est viva. (My mother is alive.)Otto y Edith Frank fueron los padres de Ana Frank. (Otto and Edith  Frank were the parents of Anne Frank.)Los primos no pueden casarse segà ºn nuestra cultura. (Cousins cannot marry accoridng to our culture.)Los suegras siempre tienen mala reputacià ³n. (Mo thers-in-law always have a bad reputation.)

Free Morphemes in English, Definition and Example

Free Morphemes in English, Definition and Example A free morpheme is a  morpheme (or word element) that can stand alone as a word. It is also called an  unbound morpheme or a free-standing morpheme.  A free morpheme is the opposite of a bound morpheme, a word element that cannot stand alone as a  word. Many words in English consist of a single free morpheme. For example, each word in the following sentence is a distinct morpheme: I need to go now, but you can stay. Put another way, none of the nine words in that sentence can be divided into smaller parts that are also meaningful. There are two basic kinds of free morphemes: content words and function words. Examples and Observations A simple word consists of a single morpheme, and so is a free morpheme, a morpheme with the potential for independent occurrence.  In The farmer kills the duckling the  free morphemes are the, farm, kill and duck. It is important to notice here that (in this sentence) not all of these free morphemes are words in the sense of minimal free formsfarm and duck are cases in point. (William McGregor,  Linguistics: An Introduction. Continuum, 2009) Free Morphemes and Bound Morphemes A word like house or dog is called a free morpheme because it can occur in isolation and cannot be divided into smaller meaning units...The word quickest...is composed of two morphemes, one bound and one free. The word quick is the free morpheme and carries the basic meaning of the word. The est makes the word a superlative and is a bound morpheme because it cannot stand alone and be meaningful. (Donald G. Ellis, From Language to Communication. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999) Two Basic Types of Free Morphemes Morphemes can be divided into two general classes. Free morphemes are those which can stand alone as words of a language, whereas bound morphemes must be attached to other morphemes. Most roots in English are free morphemes (for example, dog, syntax, and to), although there are a few cases of roots (like -gruntle as in disgruntle) that must be combined with another bound morpheme in order to surface as an acceptable lexical item... Free morphemes can be further subdivided into content words and function words. Content words, as their name suggests, carry most of the content of a sentence. Function words generally perform some kind of grammatical role, carrying little meaning of their own. One circumstance in which the distinction between function words and content words is useful is when one is inclined to keep wordiness to a minimum; for example, when drafting a telegram, where every word costs money. In such a circumstance, one tends to leave out most of the function words (like to, that, and, there, some, and but), concentrating instead on content words to convey the gist of the message. (Steven Weisler and Slavoljub P. Milekic, Theory of Language. MIT Press, 1999)