Family Members in Arabic: Mother, Father, and More

The Arabic word for mother is أُمّ (umm) and the word for father is أَب (ab). To make them personal, add the suffix ـي (-ee) for “my”: أُمّي (ummee) means “my mother” and أَبي (abee) means “my father.” The general word for family is عائِلة (ʿaaʾila). These few words open almost any conversation about relatives.

This guide covers the family vocabulary you use most in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the shared form understood across the Arab world. Each word comes with its Arabic script, transliteration, and meaning, plus a simple way to say “my” so you can talk about your own family from day one. One feature to watch for: Arabic often has separate words for the mother’s side and the father’s side of the family.

How do you say mother and father in Arabic?

You say mother in Arabic with أُمّ (umm) and father with أَب (ab). These are the words children use and the ones you will hear most. In more formal writing and speech, the parallel words are والِدة (waalida) for mother and والِد (waalid) for father.

To speak about your own parents, add the possessive suffix ـي (-ee), which means “my,” to the end of the word. This little ending works across the whole family: أُمّي (ummee, my mother), أَبي (abee, my father), and, as you will see below, أَخي (akhee, my brother).

What are the Arabic words for brother and sister?

Brother in Arabic is أَخ (akh) and sister is أُخْت (ukht). Add the “my” ending and they become أَخي (akhee, my brother) and أُخْتي (ukhtee, my sister). Sons and daughters follow the same pattern.

Note that بِنْت (bint) means both “girl” and “daughter,” while اِبْنة (ibna) specifically means “daughter.” Both are common, and context makes the meaning clear.

How do you say grandmother and grandfather in Arabic?

Grandfather in Arabic is جَدّ (jadd) and grandmother is جَدّة (jadda). Notice the pattern that runs through Arabic family words: the feminine version usually just adds the ending ـة (-a). Grandchildren work the same way.

This masculine-to-feminine ـة (-a) pairing is one of the most useful patterns in Arabic. Once you know it, learning the “female” version of a family word is often just a matter of adding one sound. The same idea of matching a word to a masculine or feminine noun shows up with the colors in Arabic, where each basic color has its own feminine form.

Why does Arabic have two words for uncle and aunt?

Arabic has two words for uncle and two for aunt because it marks which side of the family the relative comes from. Your father’s brother is عَمّ (ʿamm), but your mother’s brother is خال (khaal). English uses one word, “uncle,” for both; Arabic keeps them separate.

The same masculine-feminine pairing applies: عَمّ (ʿamm) and عَمّة (ʿamma), خال (khaal) and خالة (khaala). Because “aunt” and “uncle” are terms of respect, children often address any older family friend as عَمّ or خالة, even when there is no blood relation.

How do you say husband, wife, and cousin in Arabic?

You say husband in Arabic with زَوْج (zawj) and wife with زَوْجة (zawja) — once again, the feminine adds ـة. There is no single word for “cousin”; Arabic describes the exact relationship instead, such as “son of the paternal uncle.”

So “cousin” in Arabic is built from words you already know: اِبْن (ibn, son) or بِنْت (bint, daughter) plus the relevant uncle or aunt. This is why learning عَمّ and خال first pays off — the cousin words fall into place on their own.

What are the different words for “family” in Arabic?

The most common word for family in Arabic is عائِلة (ʿaaʾila). Two others carry slightly different shades: أُسْرة (usra) points to the immediate household, and أَهْل (ahl) reaches out to relatives and one’s wider people.

Family holds a central place in Arab culture, and asking about someone’s relatives is a normal, warm part of conversation. A common question is كَيْفَ حالُ العائِلة؟ (kayfa Haal al-ʿaaʾila?, “how is the family?”). To answer or ask this smoothly, it helps to know your Arabic greetings and their responses.

How do you talk about your own family in Arabic?

You talk about your own family by adding the possessive suffix ـي (-ee, “my”) to each word and joining ideas with simple sentences. For example, هٰذا أَبي (haadhaa abee) means “this is my father,” and هٰذِهِ أُمّي (haadhihi ummee) means “this is my mother.”

• هٰذا أَخي (haadhaa akhee) — “this is my brother”
• هٰذِهِ أُخْتي (haadhihi ukhtee) — “this is my sister”
• عِنْدي أَخَوان (ʿindee akhawaan) — “I have two brothers”
• أُحِبُّ عائِلَتي (uHibbu ʿaaʾilatee) — “I love my family”

With about twenty family words and this one possessive ending, you can introduce everyone in your household. To keep building from here, add the everyday nouns and verbs in our 50 most common Arabic words for beginners.

How do you make Arabic family words stick?

You make family words stick by grouping them in pairs — mother and father, brother and sister, uncle and aunt — and reviewing them by ear until the whole set comes quickly. Because so many words share the masculine-feminine ـة pattern, learning them together is far more efficient than one at a time.

That is exactly how Kalam Daily is built: a new word every day, native-speaker audio so you learn each word’s real sound, and spaced repetition that brings each one back just before you would forget it. Start with أُمّ and أَب this week, add the siblings and grandparents next, and you will be describing your whole family in Arabic before long. When you are ready for the bigger picture, our Arabic learning path maps out what to study next.