Family members in Spanish - funny facts
Some time ago I have published a list of Spanish vocabulary about family. Today we will be talking about the same subject in a different way. How? I have brought you stories about family and Spanish which don't always come in textbooks.
What's the difference between papa and papá?
How to say daddy in Spanish? Papa or papá? Daddy always has an accent. Otherwise it would mean "pope". The same rule applies to the plural version: papás means "daddies" meanwhile papas means "popes" or "chips". Remember: pronunciation is the key!
And since we are talking about daddy it's only natural to mention the word mamá which means "mummy". Attention here: mamá is "mother", but mama is a third person (in singular) of the verb mamar (to be breastfed amongst other terms). Same thing happens with plural mamás means "mummies", but "mamas" is the second person in singular of the same verb "mamar". Careful here!
Is the Spanish language sexist?
Our adventure with plural doesn't stop in here. You must know that when you say los padres it might mean two things. On the one hand it's a simple plural of the word "padre" (father). But on the other hand, it means, "parents". Pretty sexist, huh? A similar rule applies to the word "hijos" as they can mean "sons" or "children" (even if there are girls involved).
What's the difference between madrina and madrina de bodas?
Madrina, when talking about children, is a godmother. However, madrina de bodas is a bridesmaid.
Mijo, mija - what does it mean?
If you have Latin American friends you surely know the word mijo and mija. But did you know that, in fact, it's a mixture of "mi" (possessive pronoun) and "hijo" (son) or "hija" (daughter)? An affectionate way of calling your children.
Yayo and yaya - who the heck are they?
Have you ever heard a word yayo or yaya? Even if you have, I suppose that your first thought was something like "no way it's a Spanish word". Well, in fact, it is and it's a colloquial way to talk about your grandfather (abuelo - yayo) or grandmother (abuela - yaya). The Spanish language is curious isn't it? And there is more!
In the English language it's so easy to talk about your ancestors, because you have a logical sequence of "father - grandfather - great - grandfather and great-great-grandfather" and so on and so far. In Spanish we have to learn more, because the sequence is the following: padre-abuelo-bisabuelo-tatarabuelo and madre-abuela-bisabuela-tatarabuela. A tongue twister as it should be!
Tío and tía - uncle and aunt or something more?
If you have already studied some family-related vocabulary in Spanish you might already know that "tío" means "uncle", and "tía" - "aunt". Right, now look at this sentence:
¿Javi y Lola lo han dejado? ¡Qué fuerte, tía!
It doesn't sound like something you would say to your aunt, unless she's really cool and only ten years older than you. Indeed, tío and tía, in a colloquial speech, refer to your friends. Its English equivalent would be "dude" or "mate".
One more thing: when Spanish children talk about their uncles or aunts, normally they use forms tito (tío) and tita (tía). Just a couple of lovely words!
I am a big fan of words hidden in other words, which is why, I could not help avoiding the word tiovivo (carousel, merry-go-round) composed by two words tío (although without accent) and vivo. I don't really know what is it called this way, as carousel doesn't have a lot to do with uncle or alive...
Primo and prima - something more than family
Primo means a male cousin, prima a female one. Only? Not quite (otherwise they would not be in our list). When you say: "Mi prima se llama María" you are indeed talking about your cousin María.
However, in the sentence:
"Por fin me han dado una prima en el trabajo" it means someone has finally got his bonus, his extra money at work. And when speaking about insurance cost, "una prima" can also mean "a premium".
Another curious fact is that in Spain exists a term primo hermano or primo carnal which means first cousin. Its literal translation though is "cousin brother" and "cousin by blood". With second cousins they were not very creative though, because it's simply primo segundo or prima segunda.
Easy part to console you
That was a hard part. Now, let's discover a very easy way to talk about your distant family in Spanish. We start with consuegro and consuegra - just one word to describe the father or the mother of your son/daughter-in-law.
Concuñado or concuñada - also one easy word to talk about a brother/sister of your brother's/sister's wife, husband.
We also have comadre and compadre and these are names used by godfather and godmather to talk to each other.
The vocabulary related to the topic of the family is very extensive in Spanish, but, at the same time, being such a popular topic, I am sure that you will get used to all these names in the blink of an eye!