Family members in Dutch
The Dutch word for family is de familie (the wider relatives) or het gezin (the household you live in — parents and children). That distinction has no clean English equivalent and is worth learning first: gezin is your immediate family unit, familie is everyone you're related to.
The nuclear family
Almost every family word is a de-word. Watch the two het-exceptions in the tables (het gezin, het kind, het kleinkind). Plurals here are mostly -s or -en — see Dutch plurals for the pattern.
| Dutch | Article | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ouder | de | ouders | parent |
| moeder | de | moeders | mother |
| vader | de | vaders | father |
| mama / mam | de | mama's | mum |
| papa / pap | de | papa's | dad |
| kind | het | kinderen | child |
| zoon | de | zonen / zoons | son |
| dochter | de | dochters | daughter |
| broer | de | broers | brother |
| zus / zuster | de | zussen / zusters | sister |
| baby | de | baby's | baby |
Note the plural of kind is the irregular kinderen (one of a small -eren group), and that words ending in a vowel take an apostrophe before the plural -s: mama's, baby's. The word broers en zussen is the everyday way to say “siblings.”
The extended family
Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. A nice feature of Dutch: the same word neef covers both “nephew” and “male cousin,” and nicht covers both “niece” and “female cousin.” Context tells you which.
| Dutch | Article | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| grootouder | de | grootouders | grandparent |
| oma / grootmoeder | de | oma's | grandmother |
| opa / grootvader | de | opa's | grandfather |
| kleinkind | het | kleinkinderen | grandchild |
| kleinzoon | de | kleinzonen | grandson |
| kleindochter | de | kleindochters | granddaughter |
| tante | de | tantes | aunt |
| oom | de | ooms | uncle |
| neef | de | neven | nephew / male cousin |
| nicht | de | nichten | niece / female cousin |
| familielid | het | familieleden | family member / relative |
| voorouder | de | voorouders | ancestor |
To specify “great-” on either end, Dutch stacks over-: a great-grandfather is overgrootvader and a great-grandchild is achterkleinkind. In Belgium bomma (grandma) and bompa (grandpa) are common regional words you won't hear in the Netherlands.
In-laws: the schoon- family
Dutch builds “in-law” relationships with the prefix schoon- (literally “clean”, but here meaning “by marriage”). The main exception is zwager (brother-in-law), which has its own word.
| Dutch | Article | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| schoonmoeder | de | schoonmoeders | mother-in-law |
| schoonvader | de | schoonvaders | father-in-law |
| schoonouders | de | — | parents-in-law |
| schoonzus | de | schoonzussen | sister-in-law |
| zwager | de | zwagers | brother-in-law |
| schoonzoon | de | schoonzonen | son-in-law |
| schoondochter | de | schoondochters | daughter-in-law |
Step-family and partners
Step-relations use the prefix stief-, and half-siblings use half-. Modern Dutch also has a rich set of partner words, since partner and cohabitation are entirely normal and often preferred to marriage vocabulary.
| Dutch | Article | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| stiefmoeder | de | stiefmoeders | stepmother |
| stiefvader | de | stiefvaders | stepfather |
| stiefkind | het | stiefkinderen | stepchild |
| halfbroer | de | halfbroers | half-brother |
| halfzus | de | halfzussen | half-sister |
| partner | de | partners | partner |
| man / echtgenoot | de | mannen | husband |
| vrouw / echtgenote | de | vrouwen | wife |
| vriend / vriendje | de / het | vrienden | boyfriend |
| vriendin / vriendinnetje | de / het | vriendinnen | girlfriend |
A useful nuance: mijn vriend can mean either “my (male) friend” or “my boyfriend” — context and tone decide, and the diminutive vriendje leans toward “boyfriend.” For romantic partners, many couples simply say mijn partner or mijn vriend(in).
Talking about your family
Family talk leans heavily on possessives (mijn, jouw, zijn, haar, ons/onze) — the full set is in Dutch pronouns. Here is a short model exchange:
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| Heb je broers of zussen? | Do you have any siblings? |
| Ik heb één oudere broer en twee jongere zussen. | I have one older brother and two younger sisters. |
| Ben je getrouwd? | Are you married? |
| Nee, maar ik woon samen met mijn vriendin. | No, but I live together with my girlfriend. |
| Heb je kinderen? | Do you have children? |
| Ja, we hebben twee kinderen: een zoon en een dochter. | Yes, we have two children: a son and a daughter. |
| Mijn ouders wonen bij ons in de buurt. | My parents live near us. |
Note samenwonen (to live together, cohabit) — a hugely common life stage in Dutch culture, often long-term without marriage. And oudere/jongere (older/younger) are just the comparative forms of oud and jong.
Build outward. Family words pair naturally with the home and household vocabulary and with introducing yourself, where you'll describe your family to someone new.