The Family

In this lesson we will focus on the words connected with the family (rodzina), with parents (rodzice) and with relatives (krewni); by the way, the word “krew” means "blood", so the word “krewni” is connected with blood links.

In the family there are mather (matka) and father (ojciec) – called by their children daddy (tata) and mummy (mama) –, the son (syn) and the daughter (córka) which are between them brother (brat) and sister (siostra).

Moving vertically there is the grandfather (dziadek) and the grandmother (babcia), followed by the grandgrandfather (pradziadek) and the grandgrandmother (prababcia). As it is easy to understand, in Polish "grand-" is translated with “pra-”. Grandchildren are "wnuk" for the grandson and "wnuczka" for the granddaughter.

Moving horizontally there are  theaunts: the uncle (wujek) and the aunt (ciocia). Their children are the cousins: kuzyn for male and kuzynka for female.

Nephews have two different names, it depends if they are sons of the brother (bratanek if male, bratanica if female) or of the sister (siostrzeniec if male, siostrzenica if female).

As it is easy to understand, the words bratanek/bratanica and siostrzeniec/siostrzenica stem from brat and siostra, which mean brother and sister – in this way Polish people underline that those relatives are the children of the brother or of the sister.

Lexic

Parents: rodzice

Family = rodzina

Relatives = krewni

Mum = mama

Dad =tata

Mother = matka

Father =ojciec

Grandfather = dziadek

Grandmother = babcia

Uncle = wujek

Aunt = ciocia

Cousin ♂ = kuzyn

Cousin ♀ = kuzynka

Nephew ♂ of the brother = bratanek

Niece ♀ of the brother = bratanica

Nephew ♂ of the sister = siostrzeniec

Niece ♀ of the sister = siostrzenica

Grandson = wnuk

Granddaughter = wnuczka

Grandgrandson = pradziadek

Grandgranddaughter = prababcia

Son = syn

Daughter = córka

Brother = brat

Sister = siostra