안녕하세요? Today, I prepared the family-related words. A family in Korean is 가족. In Korea, age and relationships in a 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!
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
father | |
dad |
아빠 means dad. Usually, a child uses this term. 아버지 is a more polite word. Even if you are an adult, if you are intimate with your father, you can still call him using 아빠.
mother | |
mom |
어머니 and 엄마 are the same. If you are young or if you are in a close relationship with your mom, you can call her 엄마. If you want to call or refer to her politely, use 어머니.
These days, young people often call their mother and father together as 엄빠. As you can guess, it means 엄마 and 아빠.
stepfather | |
stepdad | |
stepmother | |
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 stepfather. Of course, you can just use the words without 새.
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.
older brother of a male | |
older sister 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. If you are a male and have an older sister, you have to call her "누나."
older brother of a female | |
older sister of a female |
If you are a female and have an older brother, he is your "오빠." If you are a female and have an older sister, she is your "언니." These are the terms you are supposed to use when you call them or refer to them.
However, siblings tend not to be courteous to one another. 😂 Consequently, younger siblings frequently resort to calling a name when addressing their older siblings, despite it being deemed impolite. Or even call them like "야! (Hey you)!" which is extremely not polite.
If you call younger siblings, you can just use their names. No need to worry about being polite. Again, "age" is an important matter in Korean culture.
younger sibling | |
younger brother | |
younger sister |
The term for younger siblings is 동생. You can call them by saying "동생." But you can just call them by name since they are younger than you. This term includes both male and female.
남 means a male and 여 means a female. So, the younger brother or sister can be specified as 남동생 or 여동생.
When you call them, you use their names. But when you introduce or mention your younger brother, you can use this term. Calling them by 남동생 or 여동생 is a bit awkward.
C. Spouses 부부 and children 자녀
husband | |
wife |
When you introduce your husband to other people, you will refer him to 남편. But when you directly call him, you will use the name, nickname, or other calling terms between couples. Like honey or babe, you can use 자기 [ja-gi], 당신 [dang-sin], or 여보 [yeo-bo].
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.
son | |
daughter |
When a parent calls their son or daughter, they can address them by name or using these terms. As you see, addressing a younger person is usually less complicated.
D. Relationship words
Here are some words to refer to the relationships of family. Take a look.
parents | |
spouses | |
brothers | |
sisters | |
brother and sister, siblings | |
siblings |
Here are some example sentences using these terms.
부모님은 지금 집에 안 계세요. My parents are not home now.
형제자매가 있어요? Do you have siblings?
옛날 옛날, 일곱 남매가 살았어요. Once upon a time, there were seven 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. I'll show you both.
A. Father's side
Grandparents
grandfather | |
grandmother |
할아버지 and 할머니 is not only the term but also the address terms. When you talk to them, you must use the honorific version of speech. If you want to know the honorific word (으)시, please click here to read my other lesson!
Uncles
(usually unmarried) father's brother | |
father's older brother | |
father's younger 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 큰아버지 or 작은 아버지.
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 is the opposite of 큰아버지. 작은 [ja-geun] came from the word 작다 [jak-dda] which means "small." 작은 아버지 can be used to call both married or unmarried (but old) younger brother of one's father.
Young children also use "아빠" instead of "아버지" and call them "큰아빠" or "작은 아빠." It gives a more friendly vibe. The versions with 아버지 are more polite.
Aunts (wife of father's brother)
aunt (wife of father's brother) | |
aunt (wife of your father's older brother) | |
aunt (wife of your father's younger 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 an addressing term.
Instead of 숙모, if she is your father's older brother's wife, you call her using 큰어머니. If she is the wife of 작은아버지 she will be called 작은 어머니. Again, for a child or in an intimate relationship, you can use "큰엄마" or "작은엄마".
Aunts (father's sisters)
aunt (father's sister) | |
father's older sister | |
father's younger sister | |
husband of the father's sister |
You can call father's sisters using 고모. Unlike 삼촌, you can actually address them using this word whether she is married or unmarried, older or younger.
Since you can call a father's sister 고모, you don't have to address them 큰고모 or 작은고모. Well, if you want to refer to or call them specifically, it is okay to use.
고모부 is the husband of 고모. You can just address them with the term as well! Also, you can specify 큰고모부 or 작은고모부 if necessary.
Cousins
cousin | |
older male cousin to a male | |
older female cousin to a male | |
older male cousin to a female | |
older female cousin to a female | |
younger cousin |
The term for cousin is 사촌. The words above are more referring terms than addressing terms. Then, how can we call them?
Well, if you call someone younger than you or the same age, no worries! You can just use their names!
If not, you will use the terms 형, 누나, 오빠, 언니. You don't call them 사촌형 or 사촌누나! It's too long to use to address someone! So, people use take 사촌 part.
(When you introduce your cousin to someone,)
이 분은 제 사촌형이에요. This person is my older cousin.
(When you actually address him,)
형! 잘 지내셨어요? Hey brother! How have you been?
B. Mother's side
Typically, when referring to the mother's side, you use the prefix 외 before the father's side. 외 translates to outside or others. In the past, a married woman was regarded as being from outside her original family. Although this concept has lost some of its significance, the terms still persist to some extent.
(mother's side) grandfather | |
(mother's side) grandmother |
Mother's side grandfather is 외할아버지. When you address him, you can say 외할아버지. However, since it is a bit long people call just 할아버지 as well. 외할머니 is the same. Even though when you talk about her, you'll usually use the term 외할머니, you can call her 할머니.
uncle (mother's brother) | |
the wife of the uncle |
외삼촌 is an uncle on the mother's side. Unlike the father's side, no matter if he is married or not, you can use 외삼촌. If you have many 외삼촌, you can distinguish them using 큰(older) and 작은(younger).
큰외삼촌 mother's older brother
작은외삼촌 mother's younger brother
If your mother's brother is married, his wife is your 외숙모. Unlike 숙모 which was not commonly used as the addressing term, you can call her 외숙모. Again, if you want to specify you can attach 큰 or 작은 but not necessary in the addressing situation.
큰외숙모 mother's older brother's wife
작은외숙모 mother's younger brother's wife
uncle (mother's brother) | |
the wife of the uncle |
이모 is your mother's sister. You can refer to her or address her using 이모. If you want to specify you can attach 큰 or 작은. If your mother's sister is married, you can call her husband as 이모부.
큰이모 Mother's older sister
작은이모 Mother's younger sister
큰이모부 Mother's older sister's husband
작은 이모부 Mother's younger sister's husband
cousins of the mother's side | |
nephew or niece |
외사촌 is a cousin of the mother's side. However, you can use the word 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.
Whether female or male, the sibling's child is called 조카. Since they will be younger than you, you can casually call them with their names.
C. Other
grandson | |
granddaughter |
손자 and 손녀 is the relationship term. 할머니 and 할아버지 won't actually call grandson or granddaughter by 손자야 or 손녀야. Instead, they will use a name or nickname to call these people.
할아버지: 아이구! 우리 손자 왔어? Oh! My baby(grandsone) came!
할머니: 우리 강아지, 많이 먹어. My puppy, eat a lot.
강아지 means a puppy, but it is often used as a nickname. By adding 우리(our) you can mean "my" in Korean and show affection.
mother-in-law | |
father-in-law |
Do you remember 어머니 and 아버지? To call mother-in-law or father-in-law, you change the 니 to 님, the politer honorific addressing term.
daughter-in-law | |
son-in-law |
며느리 and 사위 is the term to show the in-laws. For 며느리, people usually don't use it for addressing words. Instead, people will use 새아가 (when she is newly married), 아가, or 며늘아가. 아가 means a baby but in this case, it is just a nickname with affection.
아가, 많이 먹어라. Help yourself.
사위 can be used as an addressing word, but calling them with 0서방 is more common. You add the family name in that 0 spot.
김서방, 많이 드시게. Help yourself, (Son-in-law) Kim.
3. 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).
Siblings are children of the same parents so they are considered as two degrees 이촌 (2촌). 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!
4. 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. You can see the scenes where an older man is happy when he is called 오빠 by a younger woman.
People also use these sibling terms to call celebrities even if those celebrities are younger than them!
People say like "예쁘면 다 언니" or "잘생기면 다 오빠." They are saying even though you don't know these people if she or he is pretty or handsome, they are their unni or obba. 😂
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?
5. 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, an older sister, and a 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.
6. Wrap up & Worksheet: Korean family words
It is crucial to remember that when addressing someone older than you, it is inappropriate to use their names. Names should only be used when addressing someone who is the same age or younger than you. In all other cases, 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!
Here, I prepared the free worksheet which you can practice some important family terms. Please download and use it to improve your Korean lesson!
If this lesson was helpful, please like my post and subscribe to my website for future updates! Thank you for studying using My Korean lesson. 감사합니다! 🤗
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