Family and People in Catalan

In Brief

Core Catalan family words include pare (father), mare (mother), germà/germana (brother/sister), fill/filla (son/daughter), and avi/àvia (grandfather/grandmother). They have grammatical gender and normally use an article with a possessive: el meu pare, la meva mare, els meus avis. A masculine plural can name either a group of men or a mixed group, so germans may mean “brothers” or “siblings.”

Overview

Talking about family is an early A1 skill: it lets you introduce people, say who you live with, ask about someone’s relatives, and understand everyday conversations. The vocabulary also gives you useful practice with nouns (words for people, places, or things), articles, gender, number, and possessives.

Catalan does not use one unchanging word for pairs such as “brother” and “sister.” Many words have a masculine and a feminine form: germà and germana, for example. Articles and possessives change to match the family word: el meu germà, but la meva germana. This agreement is different from English, where “my” stays the same.

The beginner goal is simple: learn each word with its article, notice common masculine–feminine pairs, and form the plural correctly. Later, it is useful to understand why words such as pares, fills, and avis can be broader than their most literal English translations.

How It Works

Core family words

Learn a noun together with el or la. The article immediately tells you its grammatical gender.

Catalan	English	Note
el pare	the father	plural: els pares
la mare	the mother	plural: les mares
el germà	the brother	plural: els germans
la germana	the sister	plural: les germanes
el fill	the son	plural: els fills
la filla	the daughter	plural: les filles
l’avi	the grandfather	plural: els avis
l’àvia	the grandmother	plural: les àvies
l’oncle	the uncle	masculine; plural: els oncles
la tia	the aunt	feminine; plural: les ties
el cosí	the male cousin	plural: els cosins
la cosina	the female cousin	plural: les cosines
el net	the grandson	plural: els nets
la neta	the granddaughter	plural: les netes
la parella	the partner; the couple	grammatically feminine
la família	the family	a collective noun

The apostrophe in l’avi and l’àvia is the shortened form of the singular definite article before a vowel sound. In the plural, the full articles return: els avis, les àvies.

Common gender patterns

Several frequent family terms form the feminine by adding or changing an ending:

Masculine	Feminine	Pattern
germà	germana	-à → -ana
cosí	cosina	-í → -ina
fill	filla	add -a
net	neta	add -a
avi	àvia	add -a; note the written accent

These patterns are useful, but they are not a universal formula. Pare/mare and oncle/tia are separate words and must be learned as pairs. Also, a noun’s grammatical gender does not always identify the person’s gender: persona (person) and parella (partner) are grammatically feminine regardless of whom they refer to.

Making the plural

For the words in this topic, the main patterns are straightforward:

• Many words add -s: pare → pares, mare → mares, fill → fills, avi → avis.
• Feminine words ending in -a normally change -a to -es: germana → germanes, filla → filles, àvia → àvies.
• Stressed masculine words in -à or -í add -ns here, and the written accent disappears because the stress pattern changes: germà → germans, cosí → cosins.

Articles and possessives must become plural too: la meva filla → les meves filles; el meu germà → els meus germans.

Using possessives with family words

Catalan normally places the definite article before a full possessive. The possessive agrees with the person or people possessed—not with the owner.

Catalan phrase	English	Agreement
el meu pare	my father	masculine singular
la meva mare	my mother	feminine singular
els teus germans	your brothers/siblings	masculine or mixed plural
les seves filles	his/her/their daughters	feminine plural
la nostra àvia	our grandmother	feminine singular

This differs from English in two ways. First, the article is normally present: la meva germana, literally “the my sister.” Second, meu/meva/meus/meves changes to fit the following family noun, while English “my” does not change.

The third-person forms el seu, la seva, els seus, les seves can mean “his,” “her,” “its,” “their,” or formal “your.” Context often makes the owner clear. When it does not, Catalan can use d’ell (of him), d’ella (of her), or d’ells/d’elles (of them): la germana d’ella.

Useful sentence patterns

Family vocabulary becomes practical when combined with a few common structures:

• Tinc... — “I have...”: Tinc una germana.
• Som... — “There are ... of us / We are...”: Som quatre a la família.
• Es diu... — “His/her name is...”: La meva mare es diu Núria.
• Com es diu...? — “What is ...’s name?”: Com es diu el teu avi?
• Viu amb... — “He/she lives with...”: Viu amb els seus pares.
• És... — “He/she is...”: El meu pare és metge.

With professions, Catalan usually has no indefinite article after ser when simply stating someone’s occupation: És metge, not normally És un metge. An article can appear when the noun is described or identified more specifically, as in És un metge molt conegut (“He is a very well-known doctor”).

Examples in Context

Catalan	English	Note
El meu pare és metge.	My father is a doctor.	No article before a simple profession.
Tinc dos germans i una germana.	I have two brothers and one sister.	Germans is masculine plural.
Com es diu la teva mare?	What is your mother’s name?	Literally asks “How is your mother called?”
Els meus avis viuen a Girona.	My grandparents live in Girona.	Avis can mean grandfathers or grandparents.
La meva germana es diu Laia.	My sister’s name is Laia.	Possessive agrees with germana.
En Marc és el meu cosí.	Marc is my cousin.	Cosí identifies a male cousin.
La seva filla té sis anys.	His/Her/Their daughter is six years old.	Seva does not reveal the owner.
Tenim un fill i dues filles.	We have one son and two daughters.	Compare singular filla and plural filles.
Vius amb els teus pares?	Do you live with your parents?	Pares commonly means parents.
La Júlia és filla única.	Júlia is an only child.	Feminine form; a boy is fill únic.
Som cinc germans: tres noies i dos nois.	There are five of us siblings: three girls and two boys.	A mixed sibling group uses germans.
La meva àvia té vuitanta anys.	My grandmother is eighty years old.	Catalan uses tenir for age.
Aquest és el germà de la Marta.	This is Marta’s brother.	de + name expresses the relationship.
Anem a dinar amb tota la família.	We’re going to have lunch with the whole family.	Família is singular.

Common Mistakes

Omitting the article before a full possessive

• Wrong: Meva mare viu a Barcelona.
• Right: La meva mare viu a Barcelona.
• Why: In standard everyday Catalan, full possessives normally follow a definite article. English has no article in “my mother,” so this is an easy word-for-word mistake.

Making the possessive agree with the owner

• Wrong: el meva pare
• Right: el meu pare
• Why: Both the article and the possessive agree with pare, a masculine singular noun. The speaker’s gender is irrelevant.

Keeping the singular article with a plural noun

• Wrong: el meus germans
• Right: els meus germans
• Why: All parts of the noun phrase must be plural: els + meus + germans.

Treating every masculine plural as men only

• Misleading: Tinc dos germans always means “I have two brothers.”
• Better: Tinc dos germans can mean “I have two brothers” or “I have two siblings,” depending on context.
• Why: The traditional masculine plural can include a mixed group. If the distinction matters, add information: un germà i una germana.

Preserving an accent in the plural

• Wrong: germàns, cosíns
• Right: germans, cosins
• Why: The plural ending changes the word’s stress pattern, so these forms no longer need a written accent.

Using an article with a simple profession because English does

• Less natural for a neutral statement: El meu pare és un metge.
• Natural: El meu pare és metge.
• Why: After ser, a bare profession normally has no article. Use un/una when adding description or classification: És una metgessa excel·lent.

Usage Notes

Ambiguous family plurals

Traditional masculine plurals frequently have a collective meaning:

• els pares — “the fathers” or, very commonly, “the parents”
• els germans — “the brothers” or “the siblings”
• els fills — “the sons” or “the children”
• els avis — “the grandfathers” or “the grandparents”

Context usually resolves the meaning. When precision matters, name both groups: el pare i la mare, els germans i les germanes, or l’avi i l’àvia. In contemporary usage, speakers and institutions also choose other inclusive phrasings according to context; as a learner, first make sure you can recognize the conventional collective plurals.

Names and personal articles

You may hear a personal article before a person’s given name: en Marc, la Marta. Forms and frequency vary by region; en and na are especially prominent in some varieties, while el/la or no article may occur elsewhere. Do not confuse this personal article with part of the name. You can communicate correctly at A1 without mastering the regional distribution.

Words for partners

Parella can mean either “partner” or “couple,” depending on context: la meva parella (“my partner”) and una parella jove (“a young couple”). Marit means “husband.” Muller means “wife,” while dona may also mean “wife” in context as well as “woman.” Parella is often a useful neutral choice when marital status or gender is not relevant.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but you will encounter them later.

Catalan has a set of short or “weak” possessives, including mon, ma, mos, mes (“my”) and ton, ta, tos, tes (“your”). They survive especially with close family terms and in fixed expressions: mon pare, ma mare, ma germana. Their frequency and naturalness vary by region and expression. Beginners are safer using the productive full forms el meu pare and la meva mare, but should learn to recognize the shorter forms.

Family relationships can also be expressed with de: la mare d’en Pau (“Pau’s mother”), el germà de la Núria (“Núria’s brother”). This is often clearer than la seva mare when seva could point to more than one possible owner. In longer passages, Catalan, like English, relies heavily on context to track whose relative is being discussed.

Finally, family vocabulary reflects real relationships rather than a single fixed model. Terms such as família, parella, fill adoptiu/filla adoptiva (adopted son/daughter), padrastre (stepfather), and madrastra (stepmother) can be combined with the same article, gender, number, and possessive rules learned here. The grammar remains the same even when the family structure is different.

Practice Tips

1. Build a small family map. Label six to ten people in Catalan with article and possessive: la meva mare, el meu cosí, els meus avis. If you prefer not to use your own family, invent one for a film character.
2. Transform each phrase four ways. Start with el meu germà, then make it feminine, plural masculine, and plural feminine: la meva germana, els meus germans, les meves germanes. This trains noun, article, and possessive agreement together.
3. Practise a short introduction aloud. Use tenir, dir-se, viure, and ser: say how many siblings someone has, their names, where they live, and what they do. Then listen back for articles and plural endings.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Possessive Adjectives — explains forms such as el meu, la teva, and els seus, and how they agree with the possessed noun.