watasi no kazoku ha kono si ni sunde imasu.

の links two nouns and often shows possession or relationship.

So:

• 私 = I / me
• 私の = my
• 家族 = family

Therefore 私の家族 means my family.

In this sentence, の works like the English my or of relationship marker.

は marks the topic of the sentence: what the sentence is about.

So 私の家族は means something like:

• As for my family, ...
• My family ...

Japanese often organizes sentences as topic + comment. Here:

• 私の家族は = the topic
• この市に住んでいます = what is being said about that topic

Even though は is written with the hiragana は, when used as a particle it is pronounced wa.

に marks the place where someone lives, exists, or ends up.

With the verb 住む (to live / reside), the location is usually marked by に:

• 東京に住んでいます = live in Tokyo
• 日本に住んでいます = live in Japan

So この市に means in this city.

You may also sometimes see 住む with で in some contexts, but for standard beginner usage, 住む most commonly goes with に.

この means this and must come directly before a noun.

So:

• この市 = this city

You cannot use この by itself as a noun. It must modify something:

• この人 = this person
• この本 = this book
• この市 = this city

If you want to say this by itself, Japanese usually uses これ instead.

These words all come before nouns:

• この = this ... (near the speaker)
• その = that ... (near the listener or already mentioned)
• あの = that ... over there (away from both)

So in this sentence, この市 means this city, probably a city close to the speaker in context, or the city currently being discussed from the speaker’s perspective.

住んでいます is the -te iru form of 住む.

For many verbs, -te iru can describe an ongoing state or continuing situation. With 住む, it means to be living / to live somewhere as a current state.

So:

• 住む = to live / reside
• 住んでいます = is living / lives

In natural English, this is often translated simply as lives or is living.

Using just 住む would sound more like a dictionary form or a non-past statement such as will live / live depending on context, not the usual way to describe someone’s current residence in polite conversation.

The verb 住む changes like this:

1. 住む
2. The -te form of 住む is 住んで
3. Add います
4. Result: 住んでいます

This happens because 住む is a u-verb, and verbs ending in -む form the -te form with -んで:

• 読む → 読んで
• 飲む → 飲んで
• 住む → 住んで

Then:

• 住んでいる = plain form
• 住んでいます = polite form

家族 means family as a group.

So even though English sometimes treats family as singular and sometimes as a collective noun, Japanese 家族 refers to the whole family unit. In this sentence, 私の家族 means my family as a group.

If you wanted to talk about individual family members, you might use other expressions such as:

• 家族のみんな = everyone in my family
• 家族の人たち = the people in my family

But 家族 by itself is perfectly natural here.

Yes, very often.

Japanese frequently omits information that is clear from context. If it is already obvious whose family is being discussed, the speaker might simply say:

• 家族はこの市に住んでいます。

Or even in another context, the whole topic might be omitted.

However, 私の家族 is useful when the speaker wants to be clear that they mean my family, not someone else’s.

No, normal Japanese writing usually does not use spaces between words.

This sentence would normally be written as:

• 私の家族はこの市に住んでいます。

The spaces are often added in learning materials to help beginners see the parts of the sentence more easily.

市 means city in the administrative sense.

It is not the same as:

• 町（まち / ちょう） = town
• 村（むら / そん） = village

So この市 specifically means this city, not just any place or neighborhood.

Depending on context, English might sometimes translate it simply as here in this city, but the Japanese word itself is specifically city.

It is polite because the verb ends in います.

Compare:

• 住んでいます = polite
• 住んでいる = plain / casual

So this sentence is appropriate in normal polite conversation, writing for learners, or speaking to someone you do not know very casually.

The rest of the sentence is neutral and standard.

The given sentence is grammatically correct, but in natural conversation, speakers might choose slightly different wording depending on context.

For example:

• 私の家族はこの市に住んでいます。 — correct and polite
• 家族はこの市に住んでいます。 — more natural if my is already understood
• 私の家族、この市に住んでいます。 — possible in casual speech with a pause
• 家族はこの市に住んでいるんです。 — adds an explanatory tone

So the original sentence is good textbook Japanese, and perfectly fine, but real speech often leaves out things that are already understood.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• わたし の かぞく は この し に すんで います

A few helpful notes:

• は is pronounced wa when it is the topic particle
• 市 is し (shi)
• 住んで has んで, pronounced like nde

So the full flow is roughly:

watashi no kazoku wa kono shi ni sunde imasu