Day 10: Family and people

family vocabulary · mein / dein / sein / ihr · the owner decides, the thing decides the ending · two traps · 25 min

Good news first: possessives are free. mein, dein, sein, ihr take exactly the same endings as ein and kein from Days 5 and 6. You are not learning a new pattern today, you are reusing one.

The work is in two places: sein vs ihr (section 4), and two vocabulary traps that will get you into a genuinely awkward conversation if you miss them (section 5).

1. The family

★ The cognate table from Day 1 covers most of this list. Vater/father (v↔f), Mutter/mother (t↔th), Bruder/brother (d↔th), Tochter/daughter (t↔d, cht↔ght), Sohn/son, Kind/kin. You are recognising these, not memorising them.

⚠️ Eltern and Geschwister have no singular. "One of my parents" is einer meiner Eltern; there is no word for a single sibling — you say Bruder or Schwester. And die Eltern sind, never ist.

The plurals worth knowing now

2. ★ The possessives — endings you already know

They all decline like ein. That is the whole rule.

⚠️ euer drops its second e when an ending is added: euer Vater → eure Mutter → eure Eltern. Say euere out loud and you will hear why.

3. Dialogue

Anna: Ist das deine Familie? — ist dass DY-nuh fa-MEE-lee-uhAlex: Ja. Das ist mein Vater und das ist meine Mutter.Anna: Und das Kind?Alex: Das ist meine Schwester. Sie heißt Mia. Ihr Sohn ist erst zwei.Anna: Sie hat schon ein Kind? Wie alt ist sie?Alex: Sie ist dreißig. Ihr Mann ist Lehrer.Anna: Hast du auch Geschwister? — HAST doo OWKH guh-SHVIS-tuhAlex: Ja, ich habe zwei Geschwister — eine Schwester und einen Bruder.Anna: Wo wohnen deine Eltern?Alex: Meine Eltern wohnen in Toronto. Mein Bruder wohnt in Berlin, wie ich.

★ Note Ihr Sohn and Ihr Mann — Mia is female, so "her" is ihr, and then the ending is decided by Sohn and Mann, both der-words → no ending. That is section 4, live.

4. ★★ sein vs ihr — two decisions, not one

This is where English speakers slip, because English makes one decision here and German makes two.

① The OWNER picks the word. sein = his · ihr = her ② The THING OWNED picks the ending.

⚠️ The ending tells you nothing about who owns it. seine Schwester is his sister — the -e is about Schwester, not about a woman owning anything. English speakers read seine and think "she"; it means the opposite.

Max und seine Mutter — Max's mother.Anna und ihr Vater — Anna's father.Look at the name, not the ending.

And ihr is three words again

Same story as sie on Day 3. In writing, the capital settles it. In speech, context does — and it genuinely is never a problem in a real conversation.

5. ⚠️ Two traps that cause awkward conversations

① Mann and Frau mean two things each

The possessive is what makes it a spouse. Das ist mein Mann = "this is my husband", never "this is my man". To say a man you know, use ein Mann or name him.German has no everyday separate word for husband/wife — Ehemann and Ehefrau exist but sound like paperwork.

② Freund means boyfriend when it is yours

★ If you mean a platonic friend, say ein Freund von mir. Saying mein Freund about your male colleague tells the room something you did not mean to say. The plural is fine, the singular is not.

6. Talking about your family

⚠️ Ich habe einen Bruder — there is that -en again, third day running. It is the accusative, it arrives tomorrow, and today you can keep treating ich habe einen… as a phrase you have memorised.

★ Affectionate forms you will hear constantly: Mutti, Vati, Oma, Opa.Oma and Opa are completely normal in adult speech — an adult saying meine Oma is ordinary, not childish.

7. Exercises

A. mein or meine?

1. ___ Vater 2. ___ Mutter 3. ___ Kind 4. ___ Eltern 5. ___ Bruder 6. ___ Schwester

B. sein or ihr? (and the right ending)

1. Max und ___ Mutter 2. Anna und ___ Vater 3. Max und ___ Bruder
2. Anna und ___ Schwester 5. Mia und ___ Sohn

C. ⚠️ Translate — mind the traps.

1. That's my husband. 2. That's a friend of mine. (male, platonic)
2. That's my girlfriend. 4. My parents live in Berlin. 5. I'm an only child.

D. Fill in the possessive.

1. Wo wohnen ___ Eltern? (your, du)
2. ___ Sohn ist zwei. (her)
3. Ist das ___ Bruder? (your, formal)
4. ___ Mutter ist Lehrerin. (our)
5. Wie heißt ___ Schwester? (his)

E. ⚠️ Fix the error.

1. Meine Eltern ist in Berlin.
2. Max und seine Vater.
3. Das ist mein Frau.
4. Ich habe eine Geschwister.

8. Today's 10 sentences (flashcards)

1. Das ist meine Familie. — This is my family (dass ist MY-nuh fa-MEE-lee-uh)
2. Hast du Geschwister? — Do you have siblings? (hast doo guh-SHVIS-tuh)
3. Ich habe einen Bruder. — I have a brother (ikh HAH-buh INE-en BROO-duh)
4. Ich bin Einzelkind. — I'm an only child (ikh bin INE-tsel-kint)
5. Meine Eltern wohnen in Toronto. — My parents live in Toronto (MY-nuh EL-tuhn VOH-nen)
6. Wie heißt deine Schwester? — What's your sister called? (vee HIGHST DY-nuh SHVES-tuh)
7. Das ist mein Mann. — This is my husband (dass ist mine MAN)
8. Das ist ein Freund von mir. — This is a friend of mine (dass ist ine FROYNT fon MEER)
9. Ihr Sohn ist zwei Jahre alt. — Her son is two (eer ZOHN ist tsvy YAH-ruh alt)
10. Hast du Kinder? — Do you have children? (hast doo KIN-duh)

9. 📲 Upload to LangNote

Upload section 3 (the dialogue) and section 8, plus your own family written out → study language German.

★ Write out your real family in German tonight — names, ages, jobs, cities. It is the most-asked topic in every conversation you will have, and having it ready means you never have to build it under pressure. Day 14 will ask for it.

⚠️ Tomorrow is the accusative — the -en you have now seen four days running finally gets explained. It is the biggest day of week 2.

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