Talking About Relatives

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and we're going to a family party today, right Marco?

That's right.

We're going to go see our family, our relatives and we're going to talk about all the different

family members that you can have.

So, there are some very, very specific family members that sometimes you don't really know

the names of.

That's right.

So, we're not talking about mother, father, brother, sister.

We're talking about what we call in English extended family.

So, that means not just the people you live with but also people you're related to who

are maybe in different parts of your family.

That's right.

So, let's listen to our dialogue and we'll be back in a bit.

What are you doing this weekend?

My brother-in-law is having a small get-together at his house and he invited me.

Is it a family thing or just friends?

A bit of both.

Some cousins, aunts and uncles will be there but also some friends from the neighborhood.

Is your great-uncle Rick going to be there?

He is really funny.

Yeah, he's going to be there with his stepson and his ex-wife.

You mean your sister?

No, Rick is actually my great-uncle so he's my grandmother's brother.

You lost me.

I'll explain later.

Let's go.

Alright, so now let's talk about these family members on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway

So, Marco, we've got four family members to talk about today.

And the first one is brother-in-law.

Right, so we have the word brother-in-law.

So, basically this person is married to your sister.

That's right.

So, I have a brother, I have a sister.

But when these people marry, they marry someone who I'm not related to by blood.

We call them in-laws, so brother-in-law, sister-in-law.

Right, so that's exactly it.

The key there is that when it has the ending in-law, it means that you're not related to them by blood.

It's your extended family because of marriage.

That's right.

So, I have a younger brother.

When he gets married, I will have a sister-in-law.

That's right.

And it applies to, for example, father-in-law.

That would be your husband's dad or mother-in-law would be your husband's mother.

Yeah, so these are all related to you by marriage.

All right, so now moving on to the next type of extended family member that we have is a stepson.

Your uncle has a stepson.

So, a stepson.

Now, this can get very confusing.

Let's take a simple, simple family.

We have two people and they're married.

Right.

And then they get divorced, so they split up.

And now maybe they had some kids.

The wife has kids, and she gets married to someone else.

So, her new husband calls her son his stepson.

Right.

Because it's not his son.

It's another man's son.

Right.

But they're still related by marriage.

So, when your new husband or your new wife has kids from another marriage, they're called stepson, stepdaughter.

That's right.

So, it's the same thing as if my mother got divorced and she remarried.

She has a new husband.

That man would be my stepfather.

All right, so these are all family members.

When you hear the word step, family members that we have because of divorce.

So, stepson, stepdaughter, stepfather, stepmother.

All right, and now, again, related to the whole divorce thing, the person that you get divorced to is called an ex-wife or an ex-husband.

All right, so ex, like ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend means previous.

So, my ex-wife is someone I was married to before or in the case of a woman, my ex-husband was someone I was married to before, but we got divorced.

So, we're not married now.

That's exactly it.

So, it only applies to husband and wife, right?

You don't say my ex-children or my ex-mother-in-law.

Well, because your children are always your children.

All right.

Exactly.

If you talk about your ex-wife's parents, you just say my ex-wife's father or my ex-wife's mother because there's no more in-law.

There's no law.

You're not married.

Right, okay.

And lastly, now we have an uncle, but just not any uncle.

We have our great uncle.

Great uncle.

So, they actually explain this in the dialogue.

They say, he is my grandmother's brother.

Right.

Okay, so my uncle, this is simple.

My uncle is my mother's brother or my father's brother.

Easy.

But my great uncle is one of my grandparent's brothers.

Right.

So, my grandmother's brother or my grandfather's brother.

Right.

In English, we don't distinguish.

We don't say a different word for grandmother's brother or grandfather's brother.

Right, right, exactly.

So, your great uncle could be either your grandmother's brother or your grandfather's brother.

That's right.

So, in my family, I have, well, I just have one great uncle and one great aunt.

My grandmother has a sister, so I have a great aunt, and my grandfather has a brother, so I have a great uncle.

And now, the prefix great can also be applied, for example, to grandparents.

So, you can say, my great grandfather.

That's right.

So, we're talking about generations.

I have a grandfather, but his father is my great grandfather.

That means we go back in the past one more generation.

That's right.

All right, so let's take a break and let's listen to the dialogue again.

What are you doing this weekend?

My brother-in-law is having a small get-together at his house, and he invited me.

Is it a family thing or just friends?

A bit of both.

Some cousins, aunts, and uncles will be there, but also some friends from the neighborhood.

Is your great uncle Rick going to be there?

He is really funny.

Yeah, he's going to be there with his stepson and his ex-wife.

You mean your sister?

No, Rick is actually my great uncle, so he's my grandmother's brother.

You lost me.

I'll explain later.

Let's go.

All right, we're back.

So, we've picked out three key phrases for you.

Let's take a look at those now on Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

All right, so on Fluency Builder, we have a great noun here, actually.

You might have heard this before in a different way, but in today's dialogue, we're talking

about a small get-together.

My brother-in-law is having a small get-together.

Now, what is a get-together, Mark?

Right, so as you notice, we say a get-together, meaning that get-together, we are taking it

as a noun.

And it may be confusing because you see the verb get, right?

And you're thinking it's a verb, but no.

A get-together is a reunion, a meeting.

All right, a party.

A party.

So, maybe it's a very informal party, very casual.

Not fancy.

A get-together.

I could say, Marco, I'm having a get-together at my apartment.

Do you want to come and bring your girlfriend?

Right, so very simple.

Maybe we have a drink or some food, but it's nothing fancy.

That's right.

Very informal, very casual.

A get-together.

And when we were asking about the get-together, we asked if it's a family thing or is it just

friends?

So, I want to take a look at this phrase here, a family thing.

Is it a family thing?

What am I asking when I say, okay, Marco, this party you're having, is it a family thing?

Well, you're asking if it's a family reunion, a family party.

So, that means if I'm not in your family, can I still come?

Right.

Right, because if it's a family thing, it's just for people in my family.

Right, right.

If it's for everyone, no problem.

But I don't want to go to your house if it's a family thing because that's private.

Right, so usually, for example, maybe Christmas dinner would usually be a family thing.

You celebrate it with your family mostly, but it's not always a family thing.

That's right.

I could say, this year my birthday is just a family thing.

I'm only inviting family members.

Exactly.

All right, and lastly, we got a little bit confused with the great uncle and the stepson

and the ex-wife.

And so, we said, you know what?

You lost me.

You lost me.

You lost me.

Now, this is another great phrase.

The phrase means, I don't understand.

I'm confused.

Right, that's exactly it.

So, if someone is explaining something and I don't understand, then you can say, you

know what?

You lost me.

I don't understand.

Right, and sometimes I say this when someone is giving a very long explanation for something.

So, to get to my house, you turn left here and then you go two blocks, you turn right

and you go straight and you wait for the stoplight.

And then you go to the right-hand corner, there's a store.

I say, wait, wait, wait.

You lost me.

Right, exactly.

I don't understand.

I'm confused.

That's right.

All right, so that's all we have.

Let's listen to the dialogue one last time.

What are you doing this weekend?

My brother-in-law is having a small get-together at his house and he invited me.

Is it a family thing or just friends?

A bit of both.

Some cousins, aunts and uncles will be there, but also some friends from the neighborhood.

Is your great-uncle Rick going to be there?

He is really funny.

Yeah, he's going to be there with his stepson and his ex-wife.

You mean your sister?

No, Rick is actually my great-uncle, so he's my grandmother's brother.

You lost me.

I'll explain later.

Let's go.

So, speaking of extended family members, what else can we mention?

We have stepfamily, your stepson, your stepdaughter.

What about if you have an adopted child?

Would you differentiate it?

Some people do, some people don't.

Most people just say, this is my son, this is my daughter.

But I would like to add that with stepson, stepdaughter, it's not just divorce that we have this.

Also, if the parent, maybe the mother dies and the father has a new wife,

then the new wife can say, this is my stepson, this is my stepdaughter.

So, there are two possibilities.

One is death and one is remarriage because of divorce.

But as far as adopted, no, usually just say my son and my daughter.

But I can tell you this.

If my father and my mother divorce, my father has a new wife, and together they have a baby,

the baby, boy or girl, is my half-brother or half-sister because we share one parent, my father.

Right. This is very interesting.

So, if you do have a brother or sister that is not from your same mother or father,

but just one parent, then yeah, it's called a half-brother or sister.

Half, remember this, half because half of their parents are the same as your parents.

Maybe one father or mother.

But with stepbrothers and stepsisters, the only reason you're related is because of marriage, not because of blood.

Right. We didn't mention that you could have a stepbrother.

So, it's your brother, but he's legally your brother, but he's not related to your father or anyone in your family.

That's right. That's right.

So, maybe you have many stepbrothers.

You could have a stepbrother and a half-brother.

So, there are lots of different combinations because of many different reasons.

All right, guys. That's all the time we have for today.

But it's a little bit of a confusing topic.

So, if you have any questions or any doubts, you can come to our website, EnglishPod.com, and you can leave them there.

Yeah, we hope to see you guys online. And until next time.

Bye.