Japanese Family Members Vocabulary

This lesson covers Japanese family-member vocabulary and pronunciation, and explains the difference between honorific and humble forms for family titles.

1) When speaking directly to your own family, use honorific forms for elders—e.g. call your mother 「おかあさん」 and your father 「おとうさん」. For relatives younger than you, you can call them by name, such as younger siblings.

2) In front of outsiders, when referring to the other person’s family (or someone else’s family), you also use honorific forms. For “your father,” you don’t need 「あなたのおとうさん」—just 「おとうさん」 can mean the other person’s (or someone’s) father. For the other person’s younger siblings, even though they are younger than you, you still use the honorific 「おとうとさん」 and 「いもうとさん」.

3) In front of outsiders, when referring to your own family, use humble forms—e.g. 「ちち」 for your father, 「はは」 for your mother, and 「いもうと」 for your younger sister.

* When speaking directly to younger relatives such as younger siblings, you usually just call them by name.