Japanese Family Words Made Easy: Talk About Your 家族 (A1)

Want to tell new friends about your family in Japanese? In this lesson, you’ll learn essential family words, the polite forms to use for your family versus someone else’s, and simple sentences to introduce your 家族 (かぞく). We’ll practice as we go with quick exercises you can do right now.

Meet the family: essential words

These are the core words you’ll use again and again. Notice that Japanese has different words depending on whether you talk about your own family or someone else’s.

家族 かぞく
family
noun
わたしの家族は四人です。
My family has four people.
父 ちち
(my) father
noun
父はいしゃです。
My father is a doctor.
母 はは
(my) mother
noun
母はりょうりが上手です。
My mother is good at cooking.
お父さん おとうさん
(someone else’s) father; used to address a father
noun
田中さんのお父さんは先生です。
Mr. Tanaka’s father is a teacher.
お母さん おかあさん
(someone else’s) mother; used to address a mother
noun
山本さんのお母さんはやさしいです。
Ms. Yamamoto’s mother is kind.
Japanese
これは父です。
This is my father.
Japanese
田中さんのお母さんは日本人です。
Mr. Tanaka’s mother is Japanese.
🧠 Choose the right word

Brothers and sisters: older vs. younger

Japanese uses different words for older and younger siblings.

  • 兄 (あに): my older brother → someone else’s: お兄さん (おにいさん)
  • 姉 (あね): my older sister → someone else’s: お姉さん (おねえさん)
  • 弟 (おとうと): younger brother (can also say 弟さん for someone else’s)
  • 妹 (いもうと): younger sister (can also say 妹さん for someone else’s)
兄 あに
(my) older brother
noun
兄はアメリカにいます。
My older brother is in the U.S.
姉 あね
(my) older sister
noun
姉は会社員です。
My older sister is an office worker.
弟 おとうと
younger brother
noun
弟がふたりいます。
I have two younger brothers.
妹 いもうと
younger sister
noun
妹は高校生です。
My younger sister is a high school student.
Japanese
姉はいません。弟がいます。
I don’t have an older sister. I have a younger brother.
🔠 Put the words in order

Put the owner (田中さん) first with の, then the topic は, then the predicate.

わたしはがいません。

Saying how many people are in your family

To count people, use the counter 人 (にん). Two special forms: 1人 (ひとり), 2人 (ふたり). From 3, it’s さんにん, よにん, ごにん, etc.

  • 家族は何人ですか。 (How many people are in your family?)
  • 四人です。 (There are four.)
  • 兄がひとり、妹がふたりいます。 (I have one older brother and two younger sisters.)
Japanese
家族は何人ですか。
How many people are in your family?
Japanese
家族は四人です。
There are four people in my family.

家族はです。

Extended family essentials

Here are a few more relatives you’ll likely mention.

祖父 そふ
(my) grandfather
noun
祖父は元気です。
My grandfather is well.
祖母 そぼ
(my) grandmother
noun
祖母は大阪にいます。
My grandmother is in Osaka.
おじ おじ
uncle
noun
おじは東京で働いています。
My uncle works in Tokyo.
おば おば
aunt
noun
おばはやさしいです。
My aunt is kind.
いとこ いとこ
cousin
noun
いとこは大学生です。
My cousin is a university student.

わたしはがいます。

Short conversation: introduce your family

Put it all together. Read and then arrange the conversation in the correct order.

💬 At a meetup

Common mistakes to avoid

わたしのお母は医者です。 → わたしの母は医者です。 Use 母 (はは) for your own mother in introductions. 田中さんの母はやさしいです。 → 田中さんのお母さんはやさしいです。 Use お〜さん for someone else’s family. 弟があります。 → 弟がいます。 Use います (not あります) for people and animals.
家 house, home 族 group, clan

Quick check: can you say it?

Try these before you go.

🧠 Final mini-quiz

Wrap-up

You learned the key family words (父, 母, 兄, 姉, 弟, 妹, 家族) and when to switch to polite forms (お父さん, お母さん, お兄さん, お姉さん) for someone else’s relatives. You practiced counting people with 人 (ひとり, ふたり, さんにん, よにん…) and built simple sentences with の and は.

Keep practicing by introducing your own family out loud. For example: わたしの家族は三人です。父と母と私です。 Little daily reps like this will make your family talk smooth and natural. がんばって！