La famille

Beginner level. A1

• 

• 

• 

If you've ever tried to learn la famille in French, you know the problem: the words themselves aren't hard: mère, père, frère, sœur... but the second a textbook explains who's related to whom, it gets confusing. So I made a set of resources built around one fix: every term is explained from the same point of view, yours. No matter which word you're looking at, the question is always "Who is this person, for you?"

1. The beginner version (English explanations)

A simple three-generation tree — grandparents, parents/aunts-uncles, you/siblings — with every explanation in plain English. It's the right starting point if la famille is one of your first vocabulary topics, before you're ready to read definitions in French.

2. The complete vocabulary table

No diagram, just the full word list in a table: from les arrière-grands-parents (great-grandparents) down to les arrière-petits-enfants (great-grandchildren), eleven terms including cousins and nieces/nephews. Each row gives the French term, its English translation, a definition relative to you, and how many generations above or below you that person sits. Keep this one open as a reference while you study or do homework.

3. The reading exercise: "Les vacances de la famille Martin à Paris"

This is the practice piece, meant to come after the vocabulary above.

The text is eight short, present-tense sentences about the Martin family on vacation in Paris: A1.1 / Novice Low level, high-frequency verbs, every family member introduced by name and relationship. By the end, you've met the whole family.

The exercise is 10 Vrai ou Faux statements with checkboxes. True/false is deliberate at this level; you don't need to produce French, but recognize whether a statement matches the text. Each question checks one concrete fact, so getting through all 10 is a real comprehension check, not a guessing game.

How to use it: read the paragraph once for the gist, then go back to the text to check each statement; rereading is part of the exercise. The answer key sits below a cut line at the bottom, so you can trim it off before handing out copies, or cover it for self-study.

Bonnes vacances (studying) et à bientôt !