Family is one of the very first things you'll talk about in Russian — and it hides two small landmines for English speakers. First, семья́ means "family", but the look-alike фами́лия means "surname", not "family" — a classic false friend. Second, several of the most common kin words have completely irregular plurals (one brother is брат, but two are бра́тья). Past those two traps the topic is friendly: you say you have a relative with У меня́ есть…, and you mark "my / your" with simple possessives. This page gives you the people, the plurals, and the patterns.
The false friend: семья́ vs фами́лия
Burn this in before anything else. семья́ = "family" (the people). фами́лия = "surname / last name". They look related to English "family", but only семья́ means it. When a form asks for your фами́лия, it wants your last name.
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| семья́ | family (the people) |
| фами́лия | surname / last name |
| и́мя | first name |
| о́тчество | patronymic (father-based middle name) |
У меня́ больша́я семья́.
I have a big family. — семья́ = the family/people.
Как ва́ша фами́лия? — Петро́в.
What's your surname? — Petrov. — фами́лия = surname, NOT family.
The core family words
Russian kin terms come in pairs, and the gender is mostly visible from the ending. Note that мать ("mother") and дочь ("daughter") are feminine despite ending in a soft -ь, and оте́ц ("father") drops its -е- when it inflects.
| Russian | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| мать / ма́ма | mother / mum | мать formal; ма́ма everyday |
| оте́ц / па́па | father / dad | оте́ц formal; па́па everyday |
| брат | brother | masc. |
| сестра́ | sister | fem. |
| сын | son | masc. |
| дочь | daughter | fem., soft -ь |
| муж | husband | masc. |
| жена́ | wife | fem. |
| ба́бушка | grandmother | fem. |
| де́душка | grandfather | masc. (declines like a fem. -а noun!) |
| роди́тели | parents | plural |
| де́ти | children | plural |
Мою́ ма́му зову́т Ната́ша, а па́пу — Серге́й.
My mum's name is Natasha, and my dad's Sergei. — зову́т + accusative (ма́му, па́пу): 'they call my mum…'.
Мой де́душка ещё рабо́тает, а ба́бушка на пе́нсии.
My grandad still works, and my grandma's retired. — де́душка is grammatically masculine but takes -а endings.
Irregular plurals: бра́тья, сёстры, де́ти
Several family words form their plurals irregularly — there's no clean rule, you simply learn them (see irregular plurals). These are high-frequency, so the effort pays off fast.
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| брат | бра́тья | brother → brothers |
| сестра́ | сёстры | sister → sisters |
| сын | сыновья́ | son → sons |
| дочь | до́чери | daughter → daughters |
| мать | ма́тери | mother → mothers |
| (ребёнок) | де́ти | child → children (suppletive) |
| друг | друзья́ | friend → friends |
У меня́ два бра́та и одна́ сестра́.
I have two brothers and one sister. — after 2: бра́та (genitive sg from numeral government); count noun, not the plural.
Мои́ бра́тья живу́т в Москве́.
My brothers live in Moscow. — бра́тья = irregular plural; possessive plural мои́.
У них тро́е дете́й — два сы́на и до́чка.
They have three children — two sons and a daughter. — тро́е дете́й (collective numeral + genitive plural дете́й); до́чка = affectionate 'daughter'.
Saying you have a relative: У меня́ есть…
To say you have a family member, Russian doesn't use a verb "to have." Instead it says У меня́ есть… — literally "by/at me there is…" — with the relative in the nominative (the thing that exists is the grammatical subject). The owner is у + genitive (у меня́, у тебя́, у него́ — see у for possession).
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| У меня́ есть брат. | I have a brother. |
| У тебя́ есть де́ти? | Do you have children? |
| У неё есть сестра́. | She has a sister. |
| У нас больша́я семья́. | We have a big family. |
У меня́ есть ста́рший брат и мла́дшая сестра́.
I have an older brother and a younger sister. — У меня́ есть + nominative брат, сестра́; ста́рший/мла́дшая agree in gender.
— У вас есть де́ти? — Да, две до́чери.
— Do you have children? — Yes, two daughters. — У вас есть…? + nominative де́ти; две до́чери (numeral 2 + count form).
У ба́бушки бы́ло пя́теро дете́й.
My grandmother had five children. — у + genitive ба́бушки; бы́ло (past 'there was'); пя́теро дете́й (collective numeral).
My, your, his: possessives with family
To say "my brother / my sister", use the possessive, which agrees in gender with the relative, not with you: мой брат (masc.), моя́ сестра́ (fem.), моё (neut.), мои́ (plural). Твой / твоя́ ("your", informal) and наш / на́ша ("our") work the same way. The third-person его́ ("his"), её ("her"), их ("their") never change.
| Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| мой брат | моя́ сестра́ | мои́ роди́тели |
| твой сын | твоя́ дочь | твои́ де́ти |
| наш де́душка | на́ша ба́бушка | на́ши бра́тья |
Э́то мой брат, а э́то моя́ жена́.
This is my brother, and this is my wife. — мой (masc.) брат, моя́ (fem.) жена́: the possessive agrees with the relative.
Её муж — врач, а его́ жена́ — учи́тельница.
Her husband is a doctor, and his wife is a teacher. — её / его́ never change form; no verb 'is' in the present.
Common Mistakes
❌ Как ва́ша семья́? (meaning 'what's your surname?')
False friend — семья́ is the FAMILY (people). For 'surname' use фами́лия: Как ва́ша фами́лия?
✅ Как ва́ша фами́лия?
What's your surname? — фами́лия = last name.
❌ У меня́ есть два бра́ты.
Plural error after a number — after 2/3/4 use the genitive singular бра́та, not the plural; and the irregular plural is бра́тья anyway.
✅ У меня́ есть два бра́та.
I have two brothers. — два + genitive singular бра́та.
❌ Я име́ю брат.
Don't use 'иметь' for relatives — Russian says У меня́ есть брат (with the relative in the nominative).
✅ У меня́ есть брат.
I have a brother. — У меня́ есть + nominative.
❌ мой сестра́
Agreement error — the possessive agrees with the relative's gender: сестра́ is feminine → моя́ сестра́.
✅ моя́ сестра́
my sister — feminine моя́ to match сестра́.
❌ У меня́ есть мно́го де́ти.
Case error — after мно́го the noun goes genitive plural: мно́го дете́й.
✅ У меня́ мно́го дете́й.
I have a lot of children. — мно́го + genitive plural дете́й (and есть is usually dropped with quantity).
Key Takeaways
- семья́ = family (the people); фами́лия = surname. Never mix them — Как ва́ша фами́лия? asks for your last name.
- Core terms come in pairs: мать/оте́ц (formal) vs ма́ма/па́па (everyday), брат/сестра́, сын/дочь, муж/жена́, ба́бушка/де́душка.
- Key irregular plurals: бра́тья, сёстры, сыновья́, до́чери, ма́тери, де́ти, друзья́ — memorise them.
- Say you have a relative with У меня́ есть… (relative in the nominative, owner in у + genitive) — not with "иметь".
- Possessives agree with the relative's gender: мой брат, моя́ сестра́, мои́ роди́тели; его́/её/их never change.
Now practice Russian
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Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Introducing YourselfA1 — The self-introduction routine — and why it secretly drills four A1 cornerstones at once: Меня́ зову́т + name (accusative меня́ 'me' + the name in the NOMINATIVE), Я из + GENITIVE for origin (Я из Аме́рики), the zero copula for profession (Я студе́нт, no 'am'), and Мне + number + лет for age (DATIVE), closed off with the fixed О́чень прия́тно.
- Possession with У + Genitive (У меня́ есть)A1 — Russian has no verb 'to have' for everyday possession. Instead it says 'by me there is' — у + the possessor in the genitive + есть + the thing in the NOMINATIVE: У меня́ есть кни́га (I have a book). The negative flips the thing to genitive with нет (У меня́ нет вре́мени). Past tense uses был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли (У меня́ была́ маши́на), negative past не́ было + genitive. Plus when to drop есть, and the н- on у него́ / у неё / у них.
- My and Your: First PossessivesA1 — The first possessive pronouns a beginner needs — мой 'my' (мой, моя́, моё, мои́) and твой 'your' (твой, твоя́, твоё, твои́) for one familiar person, plus ваш 'your' (ваш, ва́ша, ва́ше, ва́ши) for formal/plural. The one rule that drives all four shapes: a Russian possessive agrees in gender and number with the THING owned, not with the owner — so 'my book' is моя́ кни́га (feminine) but 'my brother' is мой брат (masculine), even though 'my' is the same word in English.
- Irregular and Suppletive PluralsB1 — The plurals that rebuild the stem, add a suffix, or replace the word entirely: бра́тья, друзья́, де́ти, лю́ди, котя́та, ма́тери. These aren't 'fancy' forms — де́ти and лю́ди are the only normal plurals of ребёнок and челове́к, and after numbers Russian flips back to пять челове́к.
- False Friends and Mis-BorrowingsA2 — Russian is full of words that look like English ones but mean something else: магази́н is a shop (not a magazine), фами́лия is a surname (not family), симпати́чный means good-looking (not sympathetic), интеллиге́нтный means cultured (not intelligent). Each false friend is paired with both its real meaning and the correct Russian word for the English sense you were reaching for.
- Grammatical Gender: Masculine, Feminine, NeuterA1 — Every Russian noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter — and unlike most gendered languages, you can predict the gender from the nominative-singular ending about 95% of the time: a hard consonant or -й is masculine, -а/-я is feminine, -о/-е is neuter; the awkward class is nouns in -ь, which can be either gender and must be learned individually; gender governs adjective and past-tense agreement, so it travels with the noun as an inseparable label.