Family and describing people

What you’ll learn

• Name common family relationships.
• Use mi, tu and su with singular and plural nouns.
• Describe a person with ser and tener.

Show the relationship

Build a small family vocabulary with madre, padre, hermana, hermano, hija, hijo, abuela and abuelo. In context, padres can mean parents and hermanos can include brothers and sisters. Use the relationship that matches the people you mean; not every family has the same structure, and you can introduce people by name instead of assuming a particular household.

Mi and tu express my and your; they become mis and tus before plural nouns. Su can mean his, her, your formal or their. It agrees with the thing or person possessed, not with the owner: su hermana and sus hermanas. If su is unclear, add a phrase such as la hermana de Ana.

Describe without losing agreement

Use ser for a basic characteristic: Mi hermano es tranquilo. The adjective agrees with the person being described. Some adjectives change for gender, such as simpático/simpática, while others do not, such as amable. Add muy to intensify a description without changing the adjective's agreement.

Use tener for age and features such as hair or eyes: Tiene el pelo corto, tiene los ojos verdes. Use estar for a current state: Hoy está cansada. These descriptions can coexist; a usually energetic person may be tired today. Choose details relevant to the conversation instead of reducing someone to a list of physical traits.

Useful vocabulary

la hermana

the sister

el abuelo

the grandfather

amable

kind

Common mistakes

• Su does not reveal the owner's gender; clarify with de + name if needed.
• Possessives before nouns agree in number with the possessed noun: mis amigos.
• Use tener for age, not ser.

Keep these ideas

• Introduce a relative with a name and relationship.
• Match mi/mis and tu/tus to the following noun.
• Use ser, tener and estar for different kinds of description.

Use it in your life

Invent a small family for a story character and write three connected descriptions. Make the relationships explicit.

Read it in context

Look for this lesson’s ideas in a complete Spanish story. Read the passage first, then use its translations to check your understanding.