Study notes for lesson 5: 18 Persian words for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and spouses, such as amu, khâle and dâyi, with examples.
Family words in Persian: grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins
Study notes for this lesson. Lesson 5 is about the family. Lesson 3 already gave you the close family (پدر, مادر, برادر, خواهر), so this list moves on to the wider family. Persian is more precise than English here: it has different words for an uncle on your father's side and on your mother's side. All four pages of the lesson follow Mina, an only child with a big family, and her friend Arash.
Word list
| Persian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| پدربزرگ | /pedarbozorg/ | grandfather |
| مادربزرگ | /mâdarbozorg/ | grandmother |
| عمو | /amu/ | uncle (father's brother) |
| عمه | /ame/ | aunt (father's sister) |
| دایی | /dâyi/ | uncle (mother's brother) |
| خاله | /khâle/ | aunt (mother's sister) |
| پسرعمو | /pesar-amu/ | cousin (son of father's brother) |
| دخترخاله | /dokhtar-khâle/ | cousin (daughter of mother's sister) |
| شوهر | /shohar/ | husband |
| زن | /zan/ | wife; woman |
| همسر | /hamsar/ | spouse (husband or wife) |
| نوه | /nave/ | grandchild |
| پدر و مادر | /pedar o mâdar/ | parents |
| فامیل | /fâmil/ | relatives, the extended family |
| بزرگ‌تر | /bozorgtar/ | older (sibling) |
| کوچک‌تر | /kuchektar/ | younger (sibling) |
| تک‌فرزند | /tak-farzand/ | only child |
| ازدواج کرده | /ezdevâj karde/ | married |
Notes on the words
- Cousins are named by combining پسر or دختر with the parent's sibling: پسرعمو, دخترعمو, پسرخاله, دخترخاله, پسردایی, دختردایی, پسرعمه, دخترعمه. There is no single word for "cousin".
- فامیل in Persian means relatives, not "family name". A surname is نام خانوادگی (nâm-e khânevâdegi).
- زن means both "woman" and "wife"; همسر is the polite, neutral word for a spouse.
- Relatives are often addressed by the title alone, or the title plus the first name: خاله نرگس (khâle narges), "Aunt Narges".
Example sentences
| Persian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| پدربزرگ من در شیراز زندگی می‌کند. | /pedarbozorg-e man dar shirâz zendegi mikonad./ | My grandfather lives in Shiraz. |
| عموی من دو پسر دارد. | /amu-ye man do pesar dârad./ | My uncle has two sons. |
| خاله نرگس ازدواج کرده است. | /khâle narges ezdevâj karde ast./ | Aunt Narges is married. |
| دخترخاله‌ی من بهترین دوست من است. | /dokhtar-khâle-ye man behtarin dust-e man ast./ | My cousin is my best friend. |
| من تک‌فرزند هستم. | /man tak-farzand hastam./ | I am an only child. |
| برادر بزرگ‌تر آرش دانشجوست. | /barâdar-e bozorgtar-e ârash dâneshjust./ | Arash's older brother is a student. |
After a word ending in a vowel, ezâfe is pronounced -ye and written with ی: عموی من (amu-ye man), دایی من (dâyi-ye man, no extra letter after ی). The grammar page shows a shorter way to say "my uncle": عمویم (amuyam), with a possessive ending.
How to learn these words
Draw your own family tree and label everyone in Persian. Start with your parents and grandparents, then add عمو and عمه on your father's side and دایی and خاله on your mother's side. Finally, add the cousins with their compound names. Seeing the two sides of the tree makes the difference between عمو and دایی easy to remember.
Other pages in this lesson
Practice
-
What do you call your mother's sister?
Show answer
khâle خاله
-
What do you call your father's brother?
Show answer
amu عمو
-
What does this word mean? نوه
Show answer
grandchild (nave)
-
What does fâmil mean in Persian? فامیل
Show answer
relatives, the extended family
-
How do you say "I am an only child"?
Show answer
man tak-farzand hastam. من تک‌فرزند هستم.
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