Dutch family words: from moeder to schoonzus
Learn Dutch family vocabulary with articles and plurals, from vader and zus to neef, nicht and schoonmoeder, plus how to talk about your family.
Family is one of the first topics you talk about in a new language. Someone asks Heb je broers of zussen? and you want to answer without freezing. The good news: Dutch family words are close to English and German, almost all of them are de words, and the plurals are fairly regular. There are two traps, though — neef and nicht — and we'll get to them.
The core family
| Dutch | English | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| de vader | father | vaders |
| de moeder | mother | moeders |
| de ouders | parents | (already plural) |
| het kind | child | kinderen |
| de zoon | son | zonen / zoons |
| de dochter | daughter | dochters |
| de broer | brother | broers |
| de zus | sister | zussen |
| de man | husband (also: man) | mannen |
| de vrouw | wife (also: woman) | vrouwen |
| de opa | grandpa | opa's |
| de oma | grandma | oma's |
| het kleinkind | grandchild | kleinkinderen |
A few notes:
- Kind is the odd one out. It's a het word, and so is its compound het kleinkind. Nearly every other family word is de. You can check any word in our de/het trainer.
- Man and vrouw do double duty. Mijn man means "my husband", mijn vrouw means "my wife". The formal words are de echtgenoot and de echtgenote, which you'll see on official forms.
- Zus or zuster? Both mean "sister", but zus is what people say. Zuster also means "nurse", so stick with zus.
- Opa and oma are what everybody uses, even adults. De grootvader, de grootmoeder and de grootouders (grandparents) are more formal. Children also say papa and mama — and plenty of adults do too.
- Little brother, little sister: Dutch speakers love the diminutive for younger siblings. Mijn broertje and mijn zusje usually mean "my younger brother/sister", even if they're thirty. See diminutives.
Extended family: watch out for neef and nicht
| Dutch | English | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| de oom | uncle | ooms |
| de tante | aunt | tantes |
| de neef | male cousin or nephew | neven |
| de nicht | female cousin or niece | nichten |
Here's the trap: Dutch doesn't separate "cousin" from "nephew/niece". Neef is both a male cousin and a nephew — the son of your uncle or the son of your sister. Nicht is the female version. Usually context makes it clear. When it doesn't, just say whose child it is:
- Mijn neef, de zoon van mijn oom, woont in Groningen. — My cousin, my uncle's son, lives in Groningen.
- Mijn nicht is de dochter van mijn broer. — My niece is my brother's daughter.
Also note the plural neven, with a v: the f at the end of neef becomes v before the plural ending, just like brief → brieven. Our post on Dutch plurals explains why.
And one false friend: de vriend can mean "friend" or "boyfriend", and de vriendin "friend" or "girlfriend". Mijn vriendin on its own often means "my girlfriend". To say "a friend of mine", use een vriend van me or een vriendin van me.
In-laws and step-family
In-laws all start with schoon-, which literally means "clean" or "beautiful" — not very logical, but very easy to remember.
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| de schoonvader | father-in-law |
| de schoonmoeder | mother-in-law |
| de schoonouders | parents-in-law |
| de schoonzoon | son-in-law |
| de schoondochter | daughter-in-law |
| de zwager | brother-in-law |
| de schoonzus | sister-in-law |
Zwager is the exception: there's no common schoonbroer. Schoonzus also has a formal twin, de schoonzuster.
Step-family and half-siblings work like English: add stief- or half- to the word.
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| de stiefvader | stepfather |
| de stiefmoeder | stepmother |
| het stiefkind | stepchild |
| de halfbroer | half-brother |
| de halfzus | half-sister |
Since compounds take the article of their last part, stiefkind is het (like kind), and everything else stays de.
Gezin or familie?
English has one word, "family". Dutch has two, and they are not the same:
- Het gezin is the household: parents and the children living with them. Ik heb een klein gezin means you, maybe a partner, and a couple of kids at home.
- De familie is the wider family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws.
Examples:
- We zijn een gezin van vier. — We're a family of four.
- Mijn hele familie komt met kerst. — My whole family is coming at Christmas.
- Hij is familie van me. — He's related to me.
Be careful: familie is a false friend when you mean your partner and kids. Ik ga naar huis, naar mijn gezin sounds natural; using familie there suggests aunts and cousins. See more traps in Dutch false friends.
Mijn moeder, onze ouders: possessives with family
You'll use possessives constantly with family words. Most are simple: mijn, jouw/je, uw, zijn, haar, jullie, hun. The only one that changes is "our": ons before singular het words, onze before de words and plurals.
| de word | het word | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| our | onze zoon | ons kind | onze ouders |
| our | onze familie | ons gezin | onze kinderen |
Because almost every family word is de, you'll usually say onze. The two big exceptions are exactly the words you'd expect: ons kind and ons gezin.
- Dit is mijn moeder. — This is my mother.
- Hoe heet je vader? — What's your father's name?
- Haar man is Duits. — Her husband is German.
- Onze ouders wonen in Utrecht. — Our parents live in Utrecht.
- Hun kinderen zijn al groot. — Their children are already grown up.
In speech you'll hear the short forms m'n (mijn) and z'n (zijn): m'n broer, z'n vrouw. They're fine in texts and informal writing. For the full picture, see possessive pronouns.
Talking about your family
Here are the sentences you'll actually need.
- Ik heb twee broers en een zus. — I have two brothers and a sister.
- Ik ben enig kind. — I'm an only child.
- Ik heb geen broers of zussen. — I don't have any brothers or sisters.
- Ik ben de oudste. — I'm the eldest.
- Ik ben de jongste. — I'm the youngest.
- Mijn zus is twee jaar ouder dan ik. — My sister is two years older than me.
- Ik ben getrouwd en ik heb drie kinderen. — I'm married and I have three children.
- Mijn ouders zijn gescheiden. — My parents are divorced.
- Mijn opa is vorig jaar overleden. — My grandpa died last year.
And the questions people will ask you:
- Heb je broers of zussen? — Do you have brothers or sisters?
- Heb je kinderen? — Do you have children?
- Hoe oud zijn je kinderen? — How old are your children?
- Ben je getrouwd? — Are you married?
Notice geen in Ik heb geen broers: you use geen, not niet, to negate a noun with no article. Our post niet or geen explains this. Also notice there's no everyday Dutch word for "siblings" — people simply say broers en zussen.
Tip: When you learn a new family word, learn it in a sentence about your own family. Mijn tante heet Ria sticks much better than a word list.
Quick summary
- Almost all family words are de words. Exceptions: het kind, het kleinkind, het stiefkind, het gezin.
- Neef = male cousin or nephew, nicht = female cousin or niece. Plural: neven, nichten.
- Mijn man = my husband, mijn vrouw = my wife; mijn vriendin is often "my girlfriend".
- In-laws use schoon- (schoonmoeder), except zwager (brother-in-law).
- Het gezin is your household; de familie is the wider family.
- "Our": onze ouders, onze zoon, but ons kind, ons gezin.
- Ik ben enig kind. — I'm an only child.
Practise it
Learn and hear all these words in the Family lesson. Then go further with partners, marriages and dating in Relationships, and births, weddings and funerals in Life events.