Family

NOTES

(by DuoItalian)

As a general rule, possessive adjectives are preceded by an article and this is still the case when discussing family members in the plural.  However, the article is NOT used with family members in the singular.

• Mio padre è un idraulico. (My father is a plumber.)
• Mia sorella e tuo fratello sono amici. (My sister and your brother are friends.)

• I miei genitori mangiano frutta. (My parents eat fruit).
• I tuoi fratelli sono entrambi alti. (Your brothers are both tall.)

Another confusing caveat to this however, is that the definite article IS still used with singular nouns that are variations of the basic form:

• il papà (dad)
• la mamma (mom)
• il fratellino (little brother)

TIPS: While nonno (grandfather) and nonna (grandmother) are most commonly used, you can also refer to grandparents as nonnino and nonnina.

Some of us are fortunate enough to also have a bisnonno (great grandfather) and a bisnonna (great grandmother).

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VOCABULARY

(from Duolingo)

la famiglia	family
la madre	mother
il padre	father
il fratello	brother
la sorella	sister
il genitore	parent
il figlio	son
la figlia	daughter
il marito	husband
la moglie	wife
lo zio	uncle
la zia	aunt
il cugino	cousin
il nipote	nephew, niece, grandchild
il nonno	grandfather
la nonna	grandmother
il bisnonno	great grandfather
la bisnonna	great grandmother
il nome	name
il cognome	surname
il papà	dad
la mamma	mom
il suocero	father-in-law
la suocera	mother-in-law
il genero	son-in-law
la nuora	daughter-in-law

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