안녕하세요? This is Sol from My Korean Lesson! Today, I prepared the family-related words. A family in Korean is 가족. In Korea, age and relationships in family are significant matters. The family member terms are not only words but also titles you have to use when you call them. It is rude to call older people by their names so we use these terms. It is an important lesson, so please take your time and read carefully! While reading, think about the relevant terms to you!
<Table of Contents>
1. Family
1-A. Parents
1-B. Siblings
1-C. Spouses
1-D. Relationship words
2. Relatives
2-A. Father's side
2-B. Mother's side
2-C. Others
2-D. The meaning of 촌
3. The use of the Korean family words
4. Examples
5. Wrap-up
1. Family 가족
Let's start with the immediate family, 가족. You can listen to and repeat my YouTube video! I'll say each word twice. I also prepared the reading materials related to those family words!
A. Parents 부모님
아버지 [ah-beo-ji] father / 아빠 [ah-bba] dad
아빠 [ah-bba] is a childish term like dad and 아버지 [ah-beo-ji] is a more polite word. If you are close to your father, you can still call him using 아빠.
어머니 [eo-meo-ni] mother / 엄마 [eom-ma] mom
엄마 [eom-ma] is a more childish term, but even if you are an adult, if you and your mother are close, you can still call her 엄마.
새아버지 [sae-ah-beo-ji] stepfather / 새아빠 [sae-ah-bba] stepdad
새어머니 [sae-eo-meo-ni] stepmother / 새엄마 [sae-eom-ma] stepmom
새 [sae] means "new". If you add this word to the 엄마, 아빠, 어머니 or 아버지, you can use the words to call stepmother or father.
B. Siblings 형제자매
In Korean, there are many terms for brothers and sisters depending on if you are male or female. Read the below carefully and find which terms are applied to you.
형 [hyeong] older brother of a male
If you are a male and have an older brother, he is your "형." You have to call him using this word, not by a name.
누나 [nu-na] older sister of a male
If you are a male and have an older sister, you can call her "누나."
오빠 [oh-bba] older brother of a female
If you are a female and have an older brother, he is your "오빠." You have to call him by this term.
언니 [eon-ni] older sister of a female
If you are a female and have an older sister, she is your "언니." Also, this is the word you have to use when you call her.
Unlike English, if you call your older siblings by their names, it is considered rude. However, if you call younger siblings, you can use their names. Again, "age" is an important matter in Korean culture.
동생 [dong-saeng] younger sibling
The term for younger siblings is 동생. Since they are younger than you, you can just call them using their names. This term includes both male and female.
남동생 [nam-dong-saeng] younger brother
남 [nam] means a male. So, the younger brother can be specified as 남동생. When you call them, you use their names. But when you introduce or mention your younger brother, you can use this term.
여동생 [yeo-dong-saeng] younger sister
Again, it is awkward to call your younger sister using 여동생. You can call them by their names.
C. Spouses 부부 and children 자녀
남편 [nam-pyeon] husband
When you introduce your husband to other people, you will refer him to 남편. You can use the name, nickname, or other calling terms between couples when you directly call him. Like honey or babe, you can use 자기 [ja-gi], 당신 [dang-sin], or 여보 [yeo-bo].
아내 [ah-nae] wife
아내 is the same as 남편. It is a term, but you don't call her as 아내 or 아내야. When you directly call her, you can use her name, nickname, or 자기, 당신, or 여보.
아들 [ah-deul] son
딸 [ddal] daughter
D. Relationship words
Those are words to refer to the relationships. Those are not a calling word. (You don't use these words to call someone.)
부모님 [bu-mo-nim] parents
부부 [bu-bu] spouses
형제 [hyeong-jae] brothers
자매 [ja-mae] sisters
남매 [nam-mae] brother and sister, siblings
형제자매 [hyeong-jae-ja-mae] siblings
2. Relatives 친척
Let's take a look at the terms for relatives 친척 [chin-cheok]. Don't forget! When you call someone older than you, you have to call them with their titles instead of their names! Korean family terms are slightly different depending on if they are on the father's side or the mother's side.
A. Father's side
할아버지 [ha-la-beo-ji] grandfather
할머니 [hal-moe-ni] grandmother
삼촌 [sam-chon] uncle (father's brother)
Father's brothers are 삼촌. However, when you actually call them you have to be careful. On the father's side, 삼촌 is usually used to call an unmarried uncle. For married uncle, you will use the terms like the below.
큰아버지 [keun-ah-beo-ji] uncle (father's older brother)
큰 [keun] came from the adjective 크다 [keu-da]. It means "big." When you call the father's older brother, and if he is married, you can call him "큰아버지."
작은아버지 [ja-geun-ah-beo-ji] father's younger brother
작은아버지 [ja-geun-ah-beo-ji] is the opposite of 큰아버지. 작은 [ja-geun] came from the word 작다 [jak-dda] which means "small."
숙모 [suk-mo] aunt (wife of father's brother)
숙모 means an aunt. You can use this term to refer to the wife of your father's brothers. But it is not usually used as a calling word.
큰어머니 [keun-eo-meo-ni] aunt (wife of your father's older brother)
Instead of 숙모, if she is your father's older brother's wife, you call her using 큰어머니.
작은어머니 [ja-geun-eo-meo-ni] aunt (wife of your father's younger brother)
고모 [go-mo] aunt (father's sister)
You can call father's sisters using 고모. Just like brothers, you can specify them using 큰 and 작은 when you refer to or call them.
큰고모 [keun-go-mo] father's older sister
작은고모 [ja-geun-go-mo] father's younger sister
고모부 [go-mo-bu] husband of father's sister
If your father's sister is married, you can call her husband as 고모부.
사촌 [sa-chon] cousins
The term for cousin is 사촌 [sa-chon]. When you call them you have to choose a word depending on their age, male or female. When you call younger cousins, you can call them by their names. If not, you can use the same sibling terms from section 1 형, 누나, 오빠, 언니.
B. Mother's side
Usually, for the mother's side, you attach the word 외 in front of the father's side. 외 means outside or others. In old times, when a woman married, she was considered outside of her birth family. This idea has now been weakened, but the terms are still somewhat remain.
외할아버지 [wae-ha-la-beo-ji] mother's side grandfather
Mother's side father is 외할아버지, but when you call him, you can still use 할아버지 as well.
외할머니 [wae-hal-meo-ni] mother's side grandmother
When you call her, you can use 할머니 as well.
외삼촌 [wae-sam-chon] uncle (mother's brother)
Unlike the father's side, no matter if they are married or not, you can use 외삼촌 for the mother's brothers.
큰외삼촌 [keun-wae-sam-chon] mother's older brother
작은외삼촌 [ja-geun-wae-sam-chon] mother's younger brother
외숙모 [wae-suk-mo] wife or mother's brother
If your mother's brother is married, his wife is your 외숙모.
이모 [ee-mo] aunt (mother's sister)
이모 is your mother's sister. You can call them using 이모, but you can also specify using 큰 or 작은.
큰이모 [keun-ee-mo] mother's older sister
작은이모 [ja-geun-ee-mo] mother's younger sister
이모부 [ee-mo-bu] husband of mother's sister
If your mother's sister is married, you can call her husband as 이모부.
외사촌 [wae-sa-chon] cousins of the mother's side
You can still use 사촌 instead of 외사촌. You call them by their names if they are younger than you. If they are older than you, you can call them by using the sibling terms like 오빠, 언니, 형, 누나.
C. Others
손자 [son-ja] grandson
손녀 [son-nyeo] granddaughter
조카 [jo-ka] nephew or niece
며느리 [myeo-neu-li] daughter-in-law
사위 [sa-wui] son-in-law
D. The meaning of 촌
You saw the word "촌 [chon]" in relative titles like "삼촌 [sam-chon] uncle" and "사촌 [sa-chon] cousin". It is not a coincidence! 촌 means a degree of kinship. 삼 and 사 are the Sino-Korean numbers! This 촌 is a number system designed to indicate the distance and closeness between relatives. If you think about the family tree, you can easily count.
This 촌 is always determined by the relationship between parents and children. You and your parents are counted as one degree, 일촌 (1촌) [il-chon]. Siblings are children of the same parents so they are considered as two degrees 이촌 (2촌) [ee-chon]. From you, going up the tree to your parent is one degree, and going down to your sibling is one degree, so it is a total of two degrees.
So, now you can guess where the terms 삼촌 and 사촌 came from! They are three and four degrees apart from you! To count that, you have to follow the tree branches all the way up to where they started!
3. The use of the Korean family words
Those family terms are not only used in blood-related relationships! Since Koreans consider their neighbors to be one big family, these terms have an expanded use. You call others or strangers by these terms as well!
Especially when you call someone older than you in a close relationship, you can call them using sibling terms like 형, 누나, 오빠, 언니. If these people are older than you, it is rude to call them by their names, so you are using these family terms.
If you watch a Korean drama, you will hear friends call using these terms. People also use these sibling terms to call celebrities even if those celebrities are younger than them!
You can use these family terms in a store, too. When you call a female owner or an employee to get service, you may call them 이모 or 언니. To a male owner or worker, you can call them 아저씨 or 삼촌. 아저씨 [ah-jeo-ssi] is a middle-aged man and it can commonly be used than 삼촌. An equivalent term of 아저씨 for a female is "아주머니 [ah-ju-meo-ni] a middle-aged woman," but this term is considered a bit rude, so it is better not to use it.
When you call your close friend's mother or father, you can also use 어머니 and 아버지 like calling your own parents! Interesting, isn't it?
4. Examples
1
우리 가족 my family
저희 가족 my family
우리 means "we, us, our." 저희 is a politer version word of 우리. In Korean, people don't say "my family" but say "our family." It is because people consider everyone to be one in a big family.
2
우리 가족이에요. This is my family.
3
이 분은 우리 엄마예요.This is my mom.
Even though people are not related in blood, you will still use 우리 엄마 which means our mom. 이 분 is a polite way to point to someone, this person.
4
저는 형, 누나, 동생이 있어요. I have an older brother, older sister and younger sibling.
동생 can be a boy or a girl. If you want to specify, use 남동생 for younger brother and 여동생 for younger sister.
5
Q: 가족이 몇 명이에요? How many family members do you have?
A: 네 명이에요. 엄마, 아빠, 저, 언니가 있어요. I have four people. Mom, dad, I, and my older sister.
몇 명 is "how many people". When you count people, you have to use the native Korean number with the quantifier 명. If you want to learn more about it, please click here.
6
저는 BTS 오빠들을 좋아해요. I like BTS.
By adding 오빠, you can add your love and respect for them. Even though you are older than them, you can still call them 오빠.
5. Wrap up: Korean family words
The most important thing about this lesson is that when you call someone older than you, you should not use their names! You can call someone using their names only when they are the same age or younger than you. Other than that, please use the appropriate titles!
Korean family titles are very complicated, and there are many more terms than what I covered in this post! It can be a challenging matter even for Korean people. So, don't try to learn by rote. Try to remember things that relate to you first! If there are any family terms you are curious about, please search on Google or ask me using the comment section.
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