Ma famille et ma maison (My family and my home)
Primary 5 · French
Ma famille et ma maison (My family and my home)
Lesson 1 of 3
12 min
Let's begin
Uwase is walking home from school. Her little brother is standing at the gate, waving with both hands.
She already knows how to talk about him in Kinyarwanda and in English. Today she learns the French word for brother — and something surprising: how she says my depends on the word that comes next, not on her.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to name every person in your family in French, and say that they belong to you.
Here are the words. Read each one out loud two times — French lives in your mouth, not only on the page.
| French | English | Say it like this |
|---|---|---|
| la famille | the family | la fa-MEE |
| le père | the father | luh PAIR |
| la mère | the mother | la MAIR |
| le frère | the brother | luh FRAIR |
| la sœur | the sister | la SUR |
| le grand-père | the grandfather | luh grahn-PAIR |
| la grand-mère | the grandmother | la grahn-MAIR |
| l’oncle | the uncle | LONK-luh |
| la tante | the aunt | la TAHNT |
| le cousin | the boy cousin | luh koo-ZAN |
| la cousine | the girl cousin | la koo-ZEEN |
| les parents | the parents | lay pa-RAHN |
| les enfants | the children | lay zahn-FAHN |
At home, French children use two warm little words instead of père and mère: papa (dad) and maman (mum). You may use them too.
Look at the small word in front of each family word. It is either le or la. Both mean the.
One word hides its le: l’oncle. When a word starts with a vowel sound, le squeezes down to l’. But oncle is still a masculine word underneath.
You must learn the le or the la together with the word, like a first name and a last name. Never learn sœur alone. Learn la sœur.
You will need small numbers straight away:
un (1), deux (2), trois (3), quatre (4), cinq (5), six (6), sept (7), huit (8), neuf (9), dix (10).
J’ai means I have.
Notice: when there is more than one, the French word grows an -s too, just like in English. One frère, two frères.
Mugisha wants to say my sister. Follow him step by step.
Step 1 He finds the French word for sister: la sœur.
Step 2 It carries la. So sœur is a feminine word.
Step 3 For one feminine word, “my” is ma.
Step 4 He puts them together: ma sœur.
Now look again. Mugisha is a boy — and he still says ma sœur. That is the whole secret of this lesson.
French has three words for “my”. You choose by looking at the word that comes after.
| What comes after | “my” is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| one le word (masculine) | mon | mon père, mon frère, mon oncle |
| one la word (feminine) | ma | ma mère, ma sœur, ma tante |
| more than one (plural) | mes | mes frères, mes sœurs, mes parents |
In English, “my” never changes. A boy says my mother. A girl says my father. Easy.
So learners guess that French works the same way — that a boy uses mon and a girl uses ma. That is wrong. Mon, ma and mes do not look at you at all. They look at the next word.
The person speaking makes no difference. Zero. The next word decides everything.
Voici means this is or here is. Il s’appelle means he is called. Elle s’appelle means she is called.
Voici ma famille. — This is my family.
Voici mon père. Il s’appelle Habimana. — This is my father. He is called Habimana.
Voici ma mère. Elle s’appelle Mutesi. — This is my mother. She is called Mutesi.
J’ai un frère et deux sœurs. — I have one brother and two sisters.
Mes grands-parents habitent à Musanze. — My grandparents live in Musanze.
With those five sentences you can already introduce your whole family to a French speaker.
Tip
Look at the word, not in the mirror
Before you choose mon, ma or mes, do not think about yourself. Think about the very next word:
Say each one out loud first, then tap Show answer to check.
Say “my brother” in French.
Answer: mon frère. Frère is a le word, and there is only one → mon.
Say “my aunt” in French.
Answer: ma tante. Tante is a la word → ma.
Ishimwe has three sisters. How does he say “my sisters”?
Answer: mes sœurs. More than one → mes, and sœur takes an -s. (Ishimwe is a boy — it changes nothing.)
Keza is a girl. How does she say “my grandfather”?
Answer: mon grand-père. Grand-père is a le word, so it is mon — even though Keza is a girl.
What does this mean: Voici mon oncle. Il s’appelle Byiringiro.
Answer: “This is my uncle. He is called Byiringiro.”
Say “I have two brothers and one sister.”
Answer: J’ai deux frères et une sœur. (et means and.)
What you learned today
Quick check
Gatete is a boy. How does he say my mother?
