Family is important in Japan, and the Japanese language has its own way of talking about your family and someone’s else’s family. Just like you learned earlier, Japanese has very pronounced layers of respect woven into the language. This also holds when talking about family and it’s important to be mindful of your own position in reference to someone else. For example, you would refer to someone’s father as お父さん (おとうさん) but your own as ちち and also パパ (papa) can be heard. First, a list of how to speak about family in general.
Family in Japanese
Family | 家族 | かぞく | kazoku | |
Parents | 両親 | りょうしん | ryoushin | |
Sibling(s) | 兄弟 | きょうだい | kyoudai | |
Child | 子供 | こども | kodomo | |
Cousin | 従妹 | いとこ | itoko | |
Relatives | 親戚 | しんせき | shinseki |
Referring to your own family in Japanese to someone else
When referring to your own family to someone else, you want to be humble. So you see that you don’t use any honorifics or something and relatively short words. You use words like “父” (chichi) for father and “母” (haha) for mother. These terms are less formal and are mostly used in casual conversation within the family or when being self-effacing.
Father | 父 | ちち | chichi | |
Mother | 母 | はは | haha | |
Older Brother | 兄 | あに | ani | |
Older Sister | 姉 | あね | ane | |
Younger Brother | 弟 | おとうと | otōto | |
Younger Sister | 妹 | いもうと | imōto | |
Husband | 夫 | おっと | otto | |
Wife | 妻 | つま | tsuma | |
Grandfather | 祖父 | そふ | sofu | |
Grandmother | 祖母 | そぼ | sobo |
Speaking directly to your family members or someone else’s family
Although Japanese families have started to become less formal, there is still a level of formality when speaking within families. Below are the words you use when speaking directly to your family members or when speaking about another person’s family.
Father | お父さん | おとうさん | otōsan | |
Mother | お母さん | おかあさん | okāsan | |
Older Brother | お兄さん | おにいさん | onīsan | |
Older Sister | お姉さん | おねえさん | onēsan | |
Younger Brother | 弟さん | おとうとさん | otōtosan | |
Younger Sister | 妹さん | いもうとさん | imōtosan | |
Husband | 主人 | しゅじん | shujin | |
Wife | 奥さん | おくさん | okusan | |