Beyond the nuclear family
L22 gave you Vater, Mutter, Eltern, Bruder, Schwester, Sohn, Tochter. This lesson steps one generation out and one branch sideways.
| der Großvater, ¨- | grandfather |
| die Großmutter, ¨- | grandmother |
| die Großeltern (pl.) | grandparents |
| die Tante, -n | aunt |
| die Cousine, -n | cousin (female) |
| der Enkel, - | grandson |
| My grandfather is very old. | Mein Großvater ist sehr alt. |
Großvater or Opa?
Both are correct and both are common. der Großvater and die Großmutter are the neutral words — the ones you use writing a form, or talking about someone else's family. der Opa and die Oma (L37) are what you call your own, and what a child says. Same person, different register.
die Großeltern has no singular
Like die Eltern and die Geschwister, die Großeltern exists only in the plural. There is no ein Großelter.
Meine Großeltern wohnen in Deutschland.
Husband and wife
der Ehemann and die Ehefrau are built on die Ehe (marriage). In everyday speech Germans usually just say mein Mann and meine Frau — the Ehe- forms are the precise ones, and the ones a form asks for.
| Her husband comes from Spain. | Ihr Ehemann kommt aus Spanien. |
