JAPANESE Lesson Three - The Family

[Starry Starry Fright]

So you made it to lesson three... now you must learn how to talk about your family members!

Keep in mind that there is a set of words for your own family and a set of words for someone else's family.

We will begin with your own family.

Mom - haha - HAHA

Dad - chichi - CHEE CHEE

Older Brother - Ani - AH KNEE

Older Sister - Ane - AHH NAY

Younger Brother - Otouto - OH TOETOE

Younger Sister - Imouto - EEE MOW TOE

Grandma - Sobo - SO BOW

Grandpa - Sofu - SO FOO

For now, we will just be covering these basic family members. You will learn how to talk about more of your extended family in later lessons.

When referring to someone else's family, use these terms:

Mother - Okaasan - OH KAAA SAN

Father - Otousan - OH TOOE SAN

Older Brother - Oniisan - OH KNEEE SAN

Older Sister - Oneesan - OH NAAAY SAN

Younger Brother - Otoutosan - OH TOTOSAN

Younger Sister - Imoutosan - EEE MOWTOESAN

Grandfather - Ojiisan - OH GEE SAN

Grandmother - Obaasan - OH BAA SAN

Now, those of you who watch anime might recognize some of these terms. The terms "obaasan" and "ojiisan" can be used on any elderly person as a term of respect. If you are speaking to an elderly person whose name you don't know, you can call them ojiisan or obaasan.

Likewise, the terms for older brother and sister can be applied to an older peer you look up to. In a lot of anime, you will see the main character referring to their slightly mentor or role model as "oneesan/oneechan". It is a term of familiarity and respect. It can ONLY be used this way on someone who has offered you some sort of guidance and on someone who is only slightly older than you are.

Additionally, changing "oneesan" to the less formal "oneechan" is something you would only do if you knew the person very well. If you know your friend's older brother very well, you could call him "oniichan". If you don't know him well enough, it could be seen as disrespectful.

These labels are necessary in Japanese because people typically refer to each other by their family names, not given names. If you refer to somebody as "Tsukushi-san" in the Tsukushi house, you have just addressed the entire family. Well done.

A few family-related bonus words for you:

family - kazoku - KA ZO KU

parents - ryoushin - REEOO SHEEN

sibling - kyoudai - KEEOO DIE

cousin - itoko - EE TOE KO

Questions? Comments? Post them for me. Even if you have none, leave a post that says you read and understood this lesson. Happy learning!

Click here to return to lesson two.

Click here to go on to lesson four.  

[Starry Starry Fright]

Guild renos require that I bump this.  

[x-Meoi-x]

watashi no kazoku wa mama to chichi (ryoshin),futatsu ane-san soshite watashi to watashi no inu o motteru yo
was it right?  

[Swim47]

this helped clarify things for me smile i always thought that Oneesan and such were for your own family, and i'd always get confused when animes used words like imouto.  

[Kuronuma Sadako]

What about the words -sama and -kun that are also sometimes added? Like oniisama or Leekun (Lee being the name).  

[Starry Starry Fright]

Kuronuma Sadako

What about the words -sama and -kun that are also sometimes added? Like oniisama or Leekun (Lee being the name).

I think I need to do a lesson on that....  

[Asano Wakana]

Watashi no ryoushin wa Mama to Papa (that's what I call them), soshite watashi no ane no namae wa Mai desu.  

[Starry Starry Fright]

Sakuraoka Yuka

Watashi no ryoushin wa Mama to Papa (that's what I call them), soshite watashi no ane no namae wa Mai desu.

This is technically correct, but it would sound very broken to a native Japanese speaker. "Mama" and "Papa" are not terms that real Japanese people use, since they don't match up with the father and mother kanji.

Japanese is a very efficient language. They do not like having to say more than they have to, so a great deal of things are implied. Saying "watashi no ryoushin wa chichi to haha desu." is very redundant. In English, it would be like saying "my mom and dad are my mom and dad." It would be batter for you to list all of your family members, and then mention your sister's name.  

[x Falsi]

Wakatteru. heart  

[Fratalizite]

Am I gonna write a sentence or not or it's up to me??
Oh well, at least I understand!!>.<  

[LadyDerethia]

I've thought that terms Okaasan and Otousan were used as own family (like in the movie Spirited Away, for example). But now I understand. ;D  

[hisoka-kaminalover12]

i have a question, ive been watching this anime where the main character calls his older brother nichan. is that another way to say older brother or is he using a nickname?  

[x the abyss of dreams]

<3

I think I understand, but why do, in some anime, the characters call their own family things like Okaasan, or Oniisan (mainly thinking back to Cardcaptor Sakura)?

 

[xXSakura-chanxX67]

I understand biggrin  

[x-AkaruiKijo-x]

Thank you^^
Oh but i do have one question.When your referring to your own family,can you also put -san after it or is it just for someone else's family?