La famiglia (The family)
First listen to the words and repeat them several times. Then write down all the words in a notebook. At this point read and pronounce the new words.
(i) genitori parents (la) madre mother (la) mamma mam (il) padre father (il) papà dad (la) figlia daughter (il) figlio son (la) sorella sister (il) fratello brother (la) moglie wife (il) marito husband (i) nonni grandparents (la) nonna grandmother (il) nonno grandfather (la) suocera* mother-in-law (il) suocero father-in-law (la) zia aunt (lo) zio uncle (il/la) nipote grandchild/granddaughter, nephew/niece (la) cugina cousin (female) (il) cugino cousin (male) (la) nuora daughter-in-law (il) genero son-in-law (la) cognata sister-in-law (il) cognato brother-in-law (il/la) parente relative (il) fidanzato fiancé (male) (la) fidanzata fiancé (female)
A hard sound –GLI (figlio, figlia, moglie): Practice your pronunciation
The word suocera is often used in Italian to indicate someone annoying, nagging. Do you want to know more about the Italian suocera? Read this article.
The suffixes -igno , -igna , -astro and -astra added to padre, madre, fratello, and sorella form respectively the words patrigno (‘stepfather’), matrigna (‘stepmother’), fratellastro (‘stepbrother’), and sorellastra (‘stepsister’). Because of their original negative connotation, stemming from the old Italian culture of traditional families, these words are not used anymore in contemporary Italian, except when referring to fairy-tale characters. Anyone addressing living people with the above epithets in today’s Italy is doing so intentionally, meaning to inflict emotional injury. For this reason, they are usually replaced by phrases like la moglie di mio padre (‘my father’s wife’), il marito di mia madre (‘my mother’s husband’), il figlio di mio padre (‘my father’s son’), and so on.
Listen to the audio file and write the words you hear and male them plural.
Fill in the blank using the correct words. 
My mother’s sister is my .
My daughter’s brother is my .
My father’s daughter is my .
My mam and dad are my .
My sister’s son is my .
My aunt’s son is my .
My father’s brother is my .
My mother’s father is my .
My daughter’s son is my .
My brother’s daughter is my .
Watch the clip and answer the following True and False questions.
La famiglia non è importante per gli italiani T F
I figli, anche se sposati (even married), abitano spesso in casa o nello stesso palazzo dei genitori T F
I nonni fanno spesso da baby sitters T F
Anche oggi le famiglie italiane hanno molti figli T F
I divorzi aumentano T F
