English · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Family
Introduce close relatives and distinguish possessive determiners.
Understand the choice
Family vocabulary combines with possessive words and forms of be/have. English possessives identify the owner but do not change with the possessed noun.
Core rule: My, your, his, her, our, and their come before the family noun and do not take articles.
Notice it in context
My sister is Lena, and my brother is Paul.
Mi hermana es Lena y mi hermano es Paul.
My appears before both sister and brother without an article.
My parents live near my grandmother.
My mother and father live close to my grandmother.
Parents and grandmother name two generations.
Their child visits his grandfather every Sunday.
Their son or daughter visits the child’s male grandparent weekly.
Child and grandfather combine with different owners.
What to remember
- Parents is plural; one person is a parent.
- Sibling is a gender-neutral brother or sister.
Common trap: Do not write the my sister; possessive my replaces the article.