Asking About Names and Talking About Family in French

Talking About Family in French: Formal and Familiar Terms

When learning French, you will find that most textbooks and learning guides may start with the formal words for parents:

• la mère – the mother
• le père – the father

But in everyday conversation, French speakers often use more affectionate, informal words, just like we do in English.

From Formal to Familiar

Here are some common alternatives:

These are the words children typically use with their parents, and you’ll hear them often in spoken French, storybooks, and family settings.

You might hear the word ‘les parents‘ as well, which, in the plural can mean ‘parents,’ but it can have an additional wider meaning, which is ‘relatives.’

Grandparents Get Nicknames Too

French also has sweet, familiar terms for grandparents:

These nicknames vary by region and family, but mamie and papi are widely used and understood across France.

Asking About Family

In French, you can ask about someone’s family by using Vous avez… ?, which means Do you have… ?. For example, Vous avez des frères ou des sœurs ? means “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”, while Vous avez des enfants ? means “Do you have any children?”

These questions are useful in friendly conversations because they help you find out a little more about someone’s family. To answer, you can use J’ai… for “I have…,” or Je n’ai pas de… for “I don’t have any…”. For example, J’ai une sœur means “I have one sister”, and Je n’ai pas d’enfants means “I don’t have any children”.

How To Do Introductions in French

Let’s look at some sentences….

Whether you use il or ils, or elle or elles to ask about names comes down to the gender or genders of those in the group! Have a look at the constructions below:

To see more about reflexive verbs, see the dedicated lesson.

Using ‘To Have’ To Talk About Age

‘Il a quinze ans‘ translates literally to ‘He has fifteen years,’ whereas English uses ‘to be,’ i.e. ‘He is fifteen.’

Exercise: Talking About Family