Although you may know the English names for many members of your family (for example, brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter, husband, wife etc...) you may not know (or have forgotten) the names in English for other members of your family. This isn't good in situations where you need to talk about your family to somebody or are listening to somebody tell you about theirs.
To help you either learn or remember them, I have created two exercises on the names of family members in English. In this first part, you will learn the names of the most commonly forgotten family member names by people learning English.
In the second part, you will learn some more advanced English vocabulary used for saying who a person in your family is and what your relationship to them is.
Click here to see more online exercises on social English vocabulary
In the below text Peter is showing his friend Sally photos of his family and telling her who the people are.
Decide from the context what the meaning of the family member names in bold are and then do the quiz at the end to both make sure you are correct and to remember them.
Peter:'So, let me show you some photos of my family.'
Sally:'Perfect. I'd like to see some photos of you when you were young.'
Peter:'Here you are. This is a photo when I was 4 with my mum and dad at Christmas.'
Sally:'Those are your parents! Both your father and mother look very different now.'
Peter:'Yes, they do. And this is a photo when we were on holiday in France when I was 10.'
Sally:'Who is the man stood next to your father?'
Peter:'That's my uncle Simon. My father's brother. And the woman next to him, is my aunt Joan, my uncle's wife.'
Sally:'And the children in front of them. Who are they?'
Peter:'They are my cousins. My aunt and uncle's children. That's my cousin John and that's my cousin Mary.'
Sally:'And the old man and woman at the back. Are they your grandparents?'
Peter:'Yes they are. My father's parents. The man is my grandfather and the woman is my grandmother.'
Sally:'How many grandchildren do your grandparents have?'
Peter:'Well, there's me, my sister Sarah and my cousins John and Mary. So, they have 2 granddaughters and 2 grandsons.'
Sally:'So, who is the other old man in the photo. Is that your other grandfather?'
Peter:'No. My other grandparents (my mother's parent) aren't in the photo. The old man in the photo is my great-uncle Tom. He's my grandfather's brother.'
Sally:'Ok. This is a more modern photo. That's your sister with her husband and their children, isn't it?'
Peter:'That's right. The boy on the left is my nephew Christopher and the girl next to him is my niece Anna.'
Sally:'Who is woman at the back of the photo?'
Peter:'My aunt Tina.'
Sally:'And the man next to her.'
Peter:'Her partner Jonathan.'
Sally:'Partner?'
Peter:'Partner is a way to say that a person is in a romantic relationship with another person. So, instead of calling person a husband or a wife of another person, you can call them their partner.'
Match the family member names in bold from the above text to each of the definitions/descriptions below. Click on the "Check" button at the bottom of the quiz to check your answers.
When the answer is correct, two icons will appear below the answer. The "" icon contains extra information on the word/phrase. In the "" icon, you can listen to the pronunciation of the word/phrase.
Now do the second part of this exercise to learn more advanced family member names in English.
Now that you understand the meaning of the words/phrases and when to use them, practise using them by creating your own sentences with them in English. Also click on the "" icon under each correct answer and listen how each is pronounced correctly.
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