How do we say our family in Japanese?
Family status name
Like in English, there are two ways to express family names.
- Status name (mother)
- Calling name (mum)
We don’t speak to our mother as saying “Mother” and instead call her “Mum” or “Mummy”.
So, here are the family status name in Japanese :
祖母
sobo
grandmother
祖父
sohu
grandfather
母
haha
mother
父
chichi
father
姉
ane
older sister
兄
ani
older brother
妹
imouto
younger sister
弟
otouto
younger brother
And thecollect family status name of the family :
家族
kazoku
family
祖父母
sohubo
grandparents
両親
ryoushin
parents
きょうだい
kyoudai
siblings
兄弟
kyoudai
brothers
姉妹
shimai
sisters
NOTE :きょうだい (kyoudai) is a bit strange word because it can be also used for other combinations of siblings but with kanji.
For example
兄妹
kyoudai
older brother and younger sister
How do we speak to our family?
And here are the list of the family member names when we speak to them :
おばあちゃん
obaa chan
grandma
おじいちゃん
ojii chan
grandpa
お母さん
okaa san
mum
お父さん
otou san
dad
お姉ちゃん
onee chan
old sister
お兄ちゃん
onii chan
old brother
For younger sisters and brothers, there is no special noun when we speak to them.
So, we generally call them by their last name.
Tips
In Japanese, the way we speak to our family members changes for the perspective of the older members to the youngest children.
This means that if there is a grandmother, mother, father, brother, sister and a youngest child, the mother calls
her son (old brother to the youngest) as おにいちゃん (onii chen)
her daughter (old sister to the youngest) asおねえちゃん (onee chan)
her husband (father to the youngest) asおとうさん (otou san)
her mother (grandmother to the youngest) asおばあちゃん (obaa chan)
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