Family Relationships In English – Explained In Simple Way

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Non-native speakers know the terms for different relationships in their native language but often struggle to find appropriate words in English. In this post, we’ll explore common vocabulary related to family relationships, helping you build a strong foundation for everyday interactions.

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Note: the relationships themselves have been highlighted in bold and comments are in square brackets.

Relations on the mother side of family tree

First off, a variant of mother herself. When a man remarries, his new wife is the stepmother of any children from his previous marriage. Here are the relationships on the mother side of family tree:

1. Mother’s brother or mother’s male cousin: Uncle

Mother’s brother’s wife or mother’s cousin’s wife: Aunt

2. Mother’s sister or mother’s female cousin: Aunt

Mother’s sister’s husband or mother’s cousin’s husband: Uncle

[Name of the relationship stays uncle or aunt whether mother’s brother or sister is younger or older.]

Relations two generations older to you:

3. Mother’s father: Maternal grandfather

4. Mother’s mother: Maternal grandmother

Relations three generations older to you:

5. Mother of your grandparent: Great grandmother

6. Father of your grandparent: Great grandfather

[Mother of maternal grandfather as well as maternal grandmother is called great grandmother. Same goes for great grandfather.]

Relations on the father side of family tree

First off, a variant of father himself. When a woman remarries, her new husband is the stepfather of any children from her previous marriage. Here are the relationships on the father side of family tree:

1. Father’s brother or father’s male cousin: Uncle

Father’s brother’s wife or father’s cousin’s wife: Aunt

2. Father’s sister or father’s female cousin: Aunt

Father’s sister’s husband or father’s cousin’s husband: Uncle

[Name of the relationship stays uncle or aunt whether father’s brother or sister is younger or older.]

Relations two generations older to you:

3. Father’s father: Paternal grandfather

4. Father’s mother: Paternal grandmother

Relations three generations older to you:

5. Mother of your grandparent: Great grandmother

6. Father of your grandparent: Great grandfather

If you noticed, many of the relationships in English are quite straightforward. Siblings or cousins of your parents are called uncle or aunt (their spouses too go by the same name). This is so unlike relationships in many other languages.

Your immediate family

1. Wife/ Husband (Spouse)

2. Male child: Son or step-son (a son of one’s husband or wife from a previous marriage)

3. Female child: Daughter or step-daughter (a daughter of one’s husband or wife from a previous marriage)

4. Son’s wife: Daughter-in-law

5. Daughter’s husband: Son-in-law

6. Son’s or daughter’s son: Grandson

7. Son’s or daughter’s daughter: Granddaughter

Relations in the family of wife

1. Wife’s father: Father-in-law

2. Wife’s mother: Mother-in-law

3. Wife’s brother: Brother-in-law

4. Wife’s sister: Sister-in-law

[Any relationship with ‘in-law’ in the end indicates that the relationship is by marriage and not by blood.]

Relations in the family of husband

1. Husband’s father: Father-in-law

2. Husband’s mother: Mother-in-law

3. Husband’s brother: Brother-in-law

4. Husband’s sister: Sister-in-law

Relations in the family of brother

The two variants of this (brother) relationship are:

• Half-brother: You’re my half-brother if we’ve one parent in common, but not both.
• Stepbrother: You’re my stepbrother if we’ve no parents in common, but one of our parents have married each other.

Here are the relationships in the family of your brother:

1. Brother’s wife: Sister-in-law [Name of the relationship stays the same whether the brother is younger or older.]

2. Brother’s daughter: Niece

3. Brother’s son: Nephew

Relations in the family of sister

The two variants of this (sister) relationship are:

• Half-sister: You’re my half-sister if we’ve one parent in common, but not both.
• Stepsister: You’re my stepsister if we’ve no parents in common, but one of our parents have married each other.

Here are the relationships in the family of your sister:

1. Sister’s husband: Brother-in-law [Name of the relationship stays the same whether the sister is younger or older.]

2. Sister’s daughter: Niece

3. Sister’s son: Nephew

If you noticed, brother-in-law is used for brother of your spouse as well as for husband of your sister. Similarly, sister-in-law is used for sister of your spouse as well as wife of your brother. Compared to many languages, English has fewer words representing wider range of relationships.

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The case of cousins

Note: Feel free to use the above image, using the link (url) of this post for reference/attribution.

In the family tree above, X and Y are married and have children A0 and B0. A1 and B1 are their grandchildren. A2 and B2 are their great-grandchildren. And so on.

In this family, A0 and B0 are siblings (they share parents). A1 and B1 are first cousins (don’t have same parents, but share a grandparent). A2 and B2 are second cousins (don’t have same grandparents, but share a great-grandparent). A3 and B3 are third cousins (don’t have same great-grandparents, but share a great-great-grandparent). And so on.

First cousins, in simpler words, are children of your aunt or uncle.

Within few generations, the family tree gets too cumbersome to comprehend at a glance. Here is a proof: Barrack Obama, the former President of the United States, and Dick Cheney, the former Vice President, are cousins.

Eighth cousins!

Obama and Brad Pitt are ninth cousins.

And it gets weirder.

Obama and Bush, the two former Presidents representing opposite poles in the political spectrum, are tenth cousins.

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