Quick answer
Tengo dos hermanos. Mi madre se llama Carmen.
I have two siblings. My mother is called Carmen. Family words come with possessives, and Spanish uses "tener" where English uses "have got".
The words of this lesson
The masculine plural covers mixed groups
Los padres means "the parents", not "the fathers", and los hermanos covers brothers and sisters together. A mixed group always takes the masculine plural, so tengo tres hermanos may well mean two sisters and a brother. If you need to be precise, say tengo dos hermanas y un hermano.
The same holds for los hijos (children), los abuelos (grandparents) and los tíos (aunt and uncle).
My, your, his: the possessives
The forms are mi, tu, su, nuestro. They agree with the thing owned, not the owner: mi hermano, mis hermanos, nuestra casa. And su covers his, her, your (formal) and their at once — context decides, so add a name if it would be unclear: la madre de Ana.
Spanish has no apostrophe s. "Ana's mother" is always la madre de Ana, built back to front.
Describing them
Use tener for age and relations — mi hermana tiene veinte años, tengo dos hijos — and ser for lasting qualities: mi padre es alto, mi abuela es muy simpática. Adjectives match the person: mi hermano es alto, mis hermanas son altas.
Where you are matters
In Spain <span class="es-inline">mi chico</span> or <span class="es-inline">mi pareja</span> is common for a partner, while in much of Latin America you hear <span class="es-inline">mi novio</span> or <span class="es-inline">mi esposo</span> more often.
Memory trick
Possessives follow the noun, not the owner: mis hermanos even if the owner is one person.
A short dialogue
Typical mistakes
Soy veinte años.
Tengo veinte años.
Age uses tener in Spanish: you "have" years rather than "are" them.
La madre de Ana → Ana's madre
La madre de Ana
Spanish has no apostrophe s; possession is built with de and reads back to front.
Mi hermanas son altas.
Mis hermanas son altas.
The possessive agrees in number with the noun it stands before, so a plural noun needs mis.
Practice
Practise these family
0/8 matched — tap a Spanish word, then its translation
Check yourself
How do you say "I am twenty years old"?