Hey it’s Professor Dave, let’s see who’s in the family.
We just learned about possessives, and saw how they apply to family members.
That makes this a good opportunity to quickly go through all the vocabulary you might need
to refer to everyone you are related to.
First let’s start with the nuclear family.
Padre and madre are the most formal words for father and mother.
You will also often hear mamma and papa`, which are terms of endearment.
In addition, some regions have their own slang, like in Tuscany, where children sometimes
refer to their father as babbo, which means something closer to daddy or pops.
Then come the siblings.
Fratello and sorella.
We could modify this to imply that the sibling is younger by saying fratellino or sorellina.
If older, we could say fratello or sorella maggiore.
If they are your twin, you could say fratello gemello or sorella gemella.
Siblings can be collectively referred to as fratelli.
Your parents, or genitori, can have fratelli as well.
Those, to you, would be zio and zia.
The genitori of your genitori are i nonni.
That includes nonno, and nonna.
If you have bambini of your own, those are figli.
If a son, it’s figlio, and a daughter is figlia.
The figli of the fratelli of your genitori, otherwise known as your cousins, are called
cugini.
Cugino, or cugina, depending on gender.
If you get married, that’s your marito, or moglie.
Then your spouse’s parents will be your suocero and suocera.
Your spouse’s fratelli are your cognato and cognata.
And if your figli get married, their spouses will be genero or nuora.
If your figlio has a figlio, that would be your nipote, regardless of gender.
Interestingly enough, if one of your fratelli has a figlio, this would also be your nipote,
as nipote means grandchild, as well as niece or nephew.
And lastly, if you manage to live long enough and your figlio’s figlio has a figlio, this
would be your bisnipote.
As this family tree is now impressively large, I’d say we’ve learned enough, so let’s
get back to some grammar.