Learn Basic English Vocabulary: FAMILY

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and we have a lesson today on vocabulary connected with the family;

so all the names, the family relationships, and the standard names, and also some informal

names that are used within a family for different family members. Okay.

So, let's have a look. So, first of all: "mother", a very important person. So: "mother" is the

standard name for mother, but within the family, she might be called: "mum", or "mummy", or

"mom". "Mom" is a more American type of way of saying: "mum". We say in the U.K.: "mum",

but America... In America it's usually "mom", so... And this one... This is a bit old-fashioned:

"mamma". So, if you're watching an old film that's set in the maybe 19th century, something

like that, the mother might be called "mamma", which was a bit more formal in those days.

In the 19th century, in this country, anyway, children and parents were more formal in the

way they spoke to each other than they are now. So, that's "mamma". And, also: "mater",

this is a funny one. This comes from the Latin word for "mother": "mater". Although, if you're

studying Latin, you might pronounce it: "mahter", rather than: "mater", but this was a slightly

jokey name that mostly boys who went to private schools, where they studied Latin, and they

were... They were living... They were residential schools, so when they came home to visit their

parents, they would call their mother "mater" and their father "pater". That's "pater",

there; the Latin names for mother and father. I think it was a little bit jokey, and they're

not really used so much now.

Okay, so let's move on. "Father" is the standard word for "father", but he could be called:

"dad", or "daddy", "pop". Don't ask me why: How can it change to "Pop"? Don't know. "Pop",

"pops"; then "papa" is the equivalent of "mama", so those... Again, that's old-fashioned, 19th

century; very formal: "mama", "mama", "papa". And "pater", the Latin version of it. Okay.

So then we have: "brother", if you have a brother, they could be called in a very informal

way: "bro". Not many people use this, but some people do. "Bro". So, the first three

letters of "brother": "bro". Or: "bruv". "Brother", but "bruv", like a "v". That comes from the

sort of London accent; the Cockney London accent where Cockneys, instead of pronouncing

"th": "brother", they make a "v" sound instead: "bruver", "bruver". So, that comes from that.

"Bruv", "bruv".

Okay, and then a female... These are called "siblings", by the way. Siblings. If you have

brothers and sisters, they are called siblings. So, a "sister", "sister" is the standard word;

it can be shortened to "sis" in an informal way.

Okay. And then you have "uncle" who could be the brother of your father or the brother

of your mother. It's the same word for both; there's no difference. Maybe in some languages

you have different words for that, but "uncle" is the brother of either your mother or your

father. And there's no... As far as I know, there's no short, informal version of "uncle".

But with "aunt", which is the female version-so the sister of your mother or the sister of

your father-there is - there's: "auntie", so you just add "ie" at the end. "Auntie".

And just to mention, that in India, these words: "uncle" and "aunt", or "auntie" are

used as a term of respect. So, we don't do that in the U.K.; we only use these for the

actual family relative. We don't... You know, if there's an older person, we wouldn't automatically

call them "auntie" or "uncle". We might say... I don't know what you'd say. "Sir" or "madam",

or something, if you're being very formal; but not "uncle" or "auntie". Okay. That's

in India. Maybe in some other countries as well; I don't know. Please put in the comments

if you know a bit more about that.

Okay, so then: "nephew" and "niece" are the next pair. This is the male version and the

female version. So, a "nephew" is the son of your brother or sister. Okay. So, if you

have a brother or sister who has had some children, the brother's son or the sister's...

Your brother's son or your sister's son is your nephew. Okay? And there's no... As far

as I know, there's no informal word for that. And then the "niece" is the female version,

so your brother's daughter or your sister's daughter is your niece. Okay? So: "nephew"

and "niece"; male, female.

Then you can have a "cousin", and this word "cousin" is the same for male and female.

And your cousin is the son or daughter of your aunt or uncle. Well, your aunt and uncle,

because if your... If your uncle has married somebody, she... The person he marries becomes

your aunt; even though you're not related by blood, you're related by marriage. So your

uncle's... Your uncle's... This is getting difficult. Your uncle's son or your uncle's

daughter is your cousin; and your aunt's son and your aunt's daughter is your cousin. So

you can have lots of cousins if you have lots of uncles and aunts who have all had children.

Okay.

So, and the only sort of short, informal words I know for "cousin" is: "coz" or "cuz", but

those are a bit old-fashioned. You find them in Shakespeare, which is sort of 15th century,

so that's quite a long time ago; that's a few hundred years ago. So, "coz" and "cuz",

they're not really used very much, unless people within one particular family decide

to use it just in their family. Families sometimes develop their own, you know, family names;

but those are quite old-fashioned. They're called archaic or old-fashioned. Old... Old-fashioned,

meaning that they were used in the past, but they're not really used now. Okay.

Right, so then we have the older generation, so: "grandfather" is the father of your father

or the father of your mother. So it's going one more generation back. So, your grandfather

is your father's father or your mother's father. So, again, there are several family informal

versions for this: "grandpa", "granddad", and even "gramps" sometimes. Very informal,

"gramps"; not every family uses that. Again, each family decide what... Which one to use.

Okay?

And then "grandmother" who is the mother of your father or the mother of your mother.

So, grandmother: "grandma"; "granny"; "gran"; "nan"; "nanna", or I've heard some people

pronounce it: "nannah", but I think that's a particular region that does that. So: "grandma",

"granny", "gran", "nan", "nanna", or "nannah". Okay.

Then: "wife" and "husband". The wife... A man who marries a woman, she becomes his wife;

and then the husband - a woman who marries a man, he becomes her husband. "Wife" and

"husband". Okay.

And then, when that happens, when they get married, they... They acquire... They acquire...

Or they get what are called "in-laws". "In-laws" are people who are then connected by marriage.

So, if a man marries a woman, she becomes his wife, and her parents-her father and mother-become

that man's "mother-in-law" and "father-in-law". Okay? And the same applies for the wife; when

a woman marries a man, his father and mother become her "father-in-law" and "mother-in-law".

And for those parents, they acquire or get a "son-in-law" and a "daughter-in-law", because

if their son marries a woman, that woman becomes their "daughter-in-law"; and if someone's...

A couple's daughter marries a man, that man becomes their "son-in-law". Okay. Right.

So then things get even more complicated if people who are married split up. They decide

they don't want to be married anymore; they might get divorced. So, if there's... If there's

a divorce; they break up... A legal break it... Break up; they become divorced. So they're

no longer wife and husband; they are "ex-wife" and "ex-husband". And people sometimes refer

to: "my ex", without saying the rest of it; just: "my ex". So, "ex" can also be used with

a girlfriend or a boyfriend that you're no longer with: "girlfriend", "ex-girlfriend";

"boyfriend", "ex-boyfriend" when that relationship was in the past. So: "wife", "ex-wife"; "husband",

"ex-husband". Okay?

And then, another complication: If the divorced couple or one of them gets married again-they

get another wife or husband-and if they already have children from the first marriage, this

word: "step" comes in. So, if someone whose mother and father has divorced, a young boy

or girl, if their mother or father marries again, they have a new mother or a new father

who comes to live with them who is not related by blood-they're only related by marriage;

they're the second wife or second husband of the actual parent-that is the "step-father"

or "step-mother" of that child. And the child is the "step-son" or "step-daughter" of that

new step-mother or step-father. So: "ex" and "step" are the words for that, when things

break up and new relationships are formed.

Okay, so that's the first part of the lesson with all the vocabulary; formal and informal.

We're just going to have another part of the lesson which is about family history and research

into old documents, where people find out more about the earlier generations of their

family. So, we'll do that next.

Okay, so let's have a look at what's called: "family history research". This is a very

popular thing, which people in the U.K. do-I think in lots of other countries, too-to find

out the past generations of their family, where they come from; going back hundreds

of years, if they can. So, family history research is when people, either on their computer...

There are websites where they can find information, even documents that appear on the screen;

very old documents, which have been scanned and put onto the internet. And people can

find out, if they don't know who their... They may know who their grandparents were,

but going back any further than that, their great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents...

As you go back each generation you add the word "great". So, here, you'd have: "great-grandfather",

"great-grandmother", and you add the word "great" for each generation. So, it's not

so easy to know, because families don't always keep information about who their... Their

past ancestors were. So, family history research is when people look into their family history,

looking at old documents. So, the generations... The word "generations" are the different periods

of the family, going back. The "ancestors" are the previous people that you are descended

from. So: "ancestors" are the people in the past that you have come from. "Ancestry" is

the general term; the general abstract noun for the whole idea of having ancestors. Okay.

So, then "descendants", those are the people now; we are descended from/we are the descendants

of our ancestors. We have come down from them. Okay. Because "to descend" means to come down.

Then there's a "family tree", which people draw up on a big piece of paper, usually,

and it looks like this. So, you get the branches of the tree when you have one ancestor here

who has some children, so the next generation comes down here, then those children have

children, and it just goes on from there. So, this person had two children, and two

children, and three children, and it just goes on from there - so that's a family tree

with branches. Okay.

So: "genealogy" is another word for family history, really. "Genealogy" means knowing

about who your ancestors were, or finding out about it; the whole process of research.

So, how do you do the research? You find the official documents that were produced as a

record of people's birth... When people were born, they had a certificate or they put in

a register: Born, or married, and then another certificate for marriage - marriage certificate.

And then when people die, there's a death certificate, so there's a lot of official

documentary evidence... What's called "evidence" on paper; official documents, which you can

look at and find information about your ancestors. So: "official documents". Birth, marriage,

death certificates.

Depending on what country you're in, there are different sort of procedures for this;

some go back many, many years. In the U.K., these certificates go back to about the 1830s.

So, people started having a lot of documents around that period, 1830s. Before then it

was up to the churches to keep a parish register. So, if a baby was born and then they had then

a baptism or a christening when the baby was a few days old, that would be written in the

church register; the parish register. Then when a couple got married in the church, their

wedding details would be written into the parish register; an official book that was

kept there. And if somebody died and they... They were... They had a funeral service and

a burial, again, that would go into the parish register. So, parish registers go back much

further than these certificates. So it's possible to find, in the U.K., going back to about

the 16th or 15th... No, 16th century I think. So...

And also, from the parish registers, there's a very useful index; it's called the "IGI",

International Genealogical Index, which has been put together by the Mormon Church who

have a particular interest in family history. So, that's very useful because not everybody

can go to a church and ask to see the parish register. So, the Mormon Church have taken

a lot of information from parish registers, and they've put it all on one index, which

is now available on microfiche, and on digital recording, CDs, and also on the internet.

So, there's a lot of information on the internet now that maybe 10 or 20 years ago wasn't available,

so it's a lot easier now to find this information. Just sometimes you have to pay a subscription

to be able to get the information; it's not all available free. Okay, so that's all the

documents you can find, and lots of other documents, too.

And, finally, there's a fairly new thing available, which is a DNA test, which is a scientific

analysis... I think you have to put some saliva from your mouth...

From your mouth, you have to spit into a tube, and put it in a tube and send it off for analysis-your

DNA; your own particular chemical makeup-and you get your results back, and they tell you

what percentage of ancestry you have: Whether you come from Africa, or Asia, or different

countries in Europe-east and west-Scandinavia, North America, South America, all different

parts of the world. You can find that you have different percentages of your DNA based

on who your ancestors were and where they came from. So, people sometimes are quite

surprised to find that they have quite a mixture of DNA. They may have been born in England,

in this country, and they think they're just English, and then they find that they have

a bit of Irish ancestry, a bit from Scandinavia, a bit from Spain or Italy, or even further

away than that. So, it's very interesting. You have to pay a fee for that, but it's interesting

to know at some point in your life what your DNA is and where you've come from.

Okay, so I hope that's been an interesting subject for you and taught you some new vocabulary.

So, do go to the website: www.engvid.com, where there's a quiz on this subject. And

thanks for watching; and see you again soon. Okay. Bye for now.