Family, home and having
🎯 Describe your family, say what you have, and give your age.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- Tengo dos hermanos. 🔊 TEN-go dos er-MA-nos I have two brothers. Hermanos also covers 'brothers and sisters' together — a mixed group takes the masculine plural.
- Tengo quince años. 🔊 TEN-go KEEN-seh AN-yos I am fifteen years old. Like French, Spanish 'has' an age. Note años with ñ — anos without it means something quite different.
- Mi madre es maestra. 🔊 mee MA-dreh es ma-ES-tra My mother is a teacher. Spanish drops the 'a' before a job: es maestra, not es una maestra.
- Vivo en Bombay. 🔊 VEE-vo en bom-BYE I live in Bombay. Vivir = to live. Vivo, vives, vive.
- Mi casa es pequeña. 🔊 mee KA-sa es peh-KEH-nya My house is small. Grande is big; the adjective follows the noun, as in French.
- ¿Tienes hermanos? 🔊 TYEH-nes er-MA-nos Do you have brothers or sisters? No hace falta invertir nada — the question is made by the tone of your voice alone.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Making a question is easier than in English
English rearranges the sentence: you have → do you have. Spanish just lifts the voice at the end and adds the two question marks in writing. The words stay exactly where they were.
- Tienes hermanos. → ¿Tienes hermanos?
- Habla español. → ¿Habla español?
- The ¿ at the start is there so a reader knows to lift their voice from the first word.
🌍 Among the people
In most Spanish-speaking countries a person carries two surnames: the father's first, then the mother's. Gabriel García Márquez is filed under García.
🔁 Practise today
- Describe your family in six sentences using tengo and es.
- Turn five statements into questions just by changing your voice.
- Learn the numbers one to twenty — you will need them for ages and prices.
