meine Familie
The German phrase for "my family" is meine Familie.
meine Familie is used to refer to the group of people who are related to the speaker by blood or marriage.
What does it mean word for word?
meine is the feminine possessive pronoun for "my" and Familie is the feminine noun for "family".
How does it change in a sentence?
Because Familie is a feminine noun, the phrase remains meine Familie in the accusative case. However, the phrase changes to meiner Familie when used in the dative case, such as after the preposition mit. To say "my family member's" (genitive singular), you use meines Familienmitglieds.
Did you know?
- The Latin root of Familie originally referred to the entire household, including servants and slaves, rather than just blood relatives.
- If a speaker wants to specify 'my family members' in the plural, they cannot simply pluralize Familie to Familien but must use meine Familienmitglieder.
- While Familie is the modern term, a German speaker might use the word Sippe to refer to a clan or a more ancient, extended kinship group.
Examples in context
- Wo ist meine Familie?Where's my family?This sentence is useful for asking the location of meine Familie.Tatoeba #3688877 by Esperantostern, translation #2254637 by CK
- Das ist meine Familie.This is my family.This sentence is useful for introducing meine Familie.Tatoeba #6626315 by Felixjp, translation #2648419 by CK
- Meine Familie ist groß.My family is large.This sentence is useful for describing the size of meine Familie.Tatoeba #10416408 by Melang, translation #9776004 by Nylez
- Meine Familie ist sehr wichtig für mich.My family is very important to me.
- Ich gehe heute Abend mit meiner Familie essen.I'm going out to eat with my family tonight.
- 132 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Felix and Julia are looking at a photo album.
- FelixSchau mal, das ist meine Familie.Look, this is my family.
- JuliaDeine Familie sieht sehr nett aus, Felix.Your family looks very nice, Felix.
- FelixDanke, Julia. Sie sind alle sehr lustig.Thanks, Julia. They are all very funny.
- JuliaDas ist schön zu hören.That is nice to hear.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries Familie, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
