Grandchildren
Внук is a grandson and внучка a granddaughter. These are NOT two forms of one word the way студент and студентка are — they are the pair Russian uses, and both are ordinary nouns.
They go with дедушка and бабушка, which you have just met. Note that дедушка looks feminine — it ends in -а — but is masculine, and takes masculine agreement: мой дедушка.
| This is the grandmother's grandson. | Это внук бабушки. |
Children
Дети is the plural of ребёнок, and it is completely irregular — there is no way to get from one to the other. Learn it as its own word.
| The children are reading books. | Дети читают книги. |
Older and Younger
| word | |
|---|---|
| старший | older, elder |
| младший | younger |
These are the words for RANK within a family — an elder brother, a younger sister. They are not the ordinary comparatives of старый and молодой, which you use for age in general.
| My elder brother is a doctor. | Мой старший брат — врач. |
Родной
Родной means own in the sense of blood relation — родной брат is a full brother, not a step-brother. It stretches beyond family to anything you belong to: родной город, your home town, and родной язык, your native language.
| The native language is Russian. | Родной язык — русский. |
Родственник is the general word for a relative.
