How to Talk About Your Family in English Basic English Grammar

live Oh are we on here not you okay good

then I’m gonna start again hi everybody

welcome back to our weekly live stream

my name is Alisha and today we’re going

to talk about how to talk about your

family in English so for today I’m going

to explain some basic things like over

here I’m going to talk about your family

makeup so family makeup means the people

in your family so your parents brothers

sisters and so on this will be some

review maybe but we’ll practice some

basic sentence structures here then

we’ll talk about your family members

professions that means your family

members jobs so how to explain that what

do they do

then we’ll talk about how to explain

where your family members live or just a

couple of other things that you can do

to explain like um where in the world

they are so those are our three topics

for today so I hope that you can send

lots of messages in the chat this is

going to be a good live stream I think

for beginner learners but I hope that if

your intermediate or advanced you can

find something new here too so we’ll

begin in just a couple minutes I will

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you’re just joining yes today’s topic is

how to talk about your family how to

talk about your family so I think there

are lots of people alive let’s get

started okay so I said today we’re going

to start by talking about family make up

family make up so this is maybe a good

kind of intermediate or advanced keyword

this word make up so make up here

doesn’t mean like you know like

eyeshadow or lip color or anything make

up with in this use means like the parts

of something that create a larger thing

so your family makeup means the people

who create your family so for this part

I want to do a little bit of review then

so to begin siblings siblings is the

first category I want to talk about so

siblings means your brothers and sisters

brothers and sisters so these are a few

sentence patterns that you can use to

talk about brothers and sisters that you

may have or not have so um let’s begin

in this case this is if there are no

brothers and sisters some zero brothers

and sisters this is the first case if

you have no brothers no sisters you can

use the expression I’m an only child I’m

an only child

only child so meaning one there’s

one child in my family it’s me

so here don’t forget this I’m I’m an

only child don’t forget your article

here either

I’m an only child so there are no other

there’s I don’t have a brother I don’t

have a sister I’m an only child

if you do have a brother or if you do

have a sister you can use a pattern like

the next one so I’ve included two

siblings here you can say I have an

older brother and you can finish here if

that’s the case but for this example I

have an older brother and a younger

sister so I’ve introduced here two words

you can use in talking about your family

for the rest of this lesson actually so

this word older and younger so sometimes

students ask about the word elder elder

elder sounds old-fashioned we don’t use

really elder very much to talk about our

siblings we use it maybe to talk about

actually old people in our society our

elders for example but we don’t use it

so much to talk about our siblings

instead I recommend the word older not

elder older older so that’s one point

here second point here is when you’re

talking about your brothers and sisters

you’ll notice I’ve included articles

here so one don’t forget your article

that’s one but when you’re talking about

an older sibling oh so it starts with

this vowel sound yeah when it starts

with a vowel sound remember that your

article needs to be and I have an older

brother I have an older brother if

you’re talking about a younger a younger

sibling this starts with that yeah sound

so kind of a consonant sound you need to

use this article so I have an older

brother and

young-earth sister so please don’t

forget these articles that’s an

important review point I think okay and

I’ll try to check the chat good you may

on face our YouTube says I have an older

sister and a younger brother perfect

nice other ones vom Louis yes this is

live hello masya says I have two

brothers and I’m the middle ah I’ll get

to that point in just a second mafia

about being in the middle let’s see if

you have other ones send them over other

examples okay let’s go to the next one

if you have more than like one sibling

you can use this pattern I have plus

your number of sisters or brothers so

you can combine this and like I did in

this sentence for example so here for

example I have two sisters or I have

three brothers for example a point to be

careful of here is this s make it plural

I have two sisters I have two brothers

so you could say I have two sisters and

three brothers if you want to combine

them so just use this number pattern

don’t forget your plural that’s a key

point for this one okay

then finally for this beginning part is

this one I mentioned it in response to

messiahs comment on Facebook this I’m

the middle child

so I started this point with this

expression I’m an only child

I’m an only child here we’re gonna use

I’m I’m the middle child so middle child

means I have a sibling here and I have a

sibling here without meaning I have an

older sibling and I have a younger

sibling then this is me my terrible

happy so this is me this is me in the

middle in the middle so I’m the middle

child I

the middle child this is the expression

we use always this it’s because I’m the

middle child in my family there’s only

one middle child it’s me I’m the middle

child in my family but please use this

expression if you have an older sibling

and a younger sibling and you are in the

middle

okay um gel birth on youtube I have two

sister and a brother like I said don’t

forget this s I have two sisters

don’t forget your s make it plural

please uh okay I am the middle child to

someone good I have to I’m not sure with

that way I have two brothers

I mean enough again so careful

don’t forget many of you are forgetting

to make this plural this s right here

brothers I have two brothers - one

brother two brothers so don’t forget

that test I have three sisters good

let’s see Oh someone says how do I have

say siblings by my father interesting so

you can say like I have two siblings

let’s see that gets a little bit more

complicated I think I’m not sure

actually about your situation so I won’t

answer that one specifically maybe I can

come back to that later many of you are

saying I’m the middle child ah someone

says I’m a old sister in my family

that’s a great one if you yourself if

you are this one if you are this child

here you’re not the middle child you can

say here I’ll make anyone I’m oh can

they see this here yes okay thanks I’m

the oldest

I’m the oldest so here you see we’re

using the superlative yeah I’m the

oldest I’m the oldest so not older oh

there are comparative ease okay I’m the

oldest I’m the oldest so if this is you

if this is you you are the oldest the

oldest child in your family

on the other hand if this is you you can

say I’m the youngest I’m the youngest so

here we have some good grammar points

today I’m the oldest I’m the youngest

here I’m getting it very weird

okay I’m oldest I’m the youngest um hope

that helps some of you Wow someone says

I have four brothers wow that’s big I

have one brother do you have even

brothers sisters one a little brother

aa little brother yeah you can say

little or big for younger or older too

so we could say little brother or little

sister and big brother or big sister as

well okay that was a lot fun okay um so

let’s go on I’m warm let’s go on to the

next part

ah good you guys have great sentences

three brothers two sisters nice okay so

let’s go on to this part children so

part two for this part is children so I

don’t know if you have kids I don’t have

kids but if you do here’s how to talk

about it so first one children so as we

talked about with siblings I have number

you can use I have number plus kids kids

so this kid is more casual and more

friendly I feel more commonly used than

children you can say children children

here children is okay that’s fine I have

two children children is okay to use I

prefer kids I have two kids I have three

kids if you have one don’t use the

plural I have one kid I have one kid one

kid

two

kids so caution on your singular and

plural forms okay then if you don’t have

kids if you’re like me you can say I

don’t have kids I don’t have kids I I

would not say I have zero kids that

sounds kind of unnatural don’t say I

have zero kids say I don’t have kids

again

plural plural here I don’t have kids I

don’t have kids okay someone says I have

one kid good I have no kids oh good

Gustavo nice point I said I don’t have

kids what what did you write

I have no kids I have no kids that’s

also okay someone says I have one baby

she’s so cute oh okay um good Oh Jo you

said how do you say when you are the

second of five brothers you just said it

perfectly I’m the second of five

brothers that’s perfect nice good I

don’t have kids I don’t have any kids

perfect perfect everybody nicely done

okay then um let’s see what’s my next

point

next point then so we’ve talked about

kids numbers of kids is pretty easy to

do ah you can’t explain their ages if

you want to so some of you said I have

two kids or I have one kid you can say I

have you know two kids my daughter is -

my son is four so you can add some

information about your kids so I’ll put

that here somewhere I’m running out of

space here so plus age you can talk

about their age that’s the next natural

point to include I have two kids

my son is four my daughter is - okay

good nice one I have three kids

Oh someone wrote I have three kids or

children’s Damari wrote that please be

careful a singular plural point I said

children is okay yes but remember shape

children is the plural form so child is

an irregular noun so when we say one

child we use child for the singular

plural form is children so you can’t say

children’s that’s incorrect please use

one child two children

okay finally finally for this one let’s

move on to one more point to talk about

your family makeup that is this marital

status

marital status so this is more of an

intermediate or advanced vocabulary word

your marital status this is a formal way

of saying are you married or not so are

you married or not there’s a simple

answer to this I’m I’m married I’m

married so this don’t forget this I’m

that’s one two married I’m married not

I’m a marriage not I’m not married but

I’m married I’m married is the correct

expression here I’m married of course if

not I’m not married I’m not married if

you like if you are married I’m married

you can say like you can use some more

advanced grammar I’ve been married for

five years

oh my writing is messy I’ve been married

for five years for example you don’t

have to zoom in on that I think it’s

impossible to read

thanks I’ve been married for five years

you could say okay so this is how to

explain your marital status explaining

whether or not you are married we don’t

use this for it’s single or in a

relationship though marital status is

for married or not married okay good so

this is the first part for today’s

lesson how to talk about your family

makeup um

I’m checking for your questions

a PT or hi I’m YouTube says I am

unmarried unmarried is also okay nice

I’m unmarried

I’m unmarried good um I’m married and I

have two kids says Mena’s on Facebook

nice

Umar can we say me is married note we

cannot say me is married say I am I am

married I am married is the correct

sentence I am married Jeremy says I

never been married uh if you want to use

that eyes I have never been married I’m

out of space I’ve never been married I

have never been married okay

I have to stop there so we can go on

let’s take a break because I’ve been

talking forever so today’s topic is

family and relative so we have free

stuff for you guys as always today the

perfect PDF is our family and relatives

cheat sheet so this has lots of

vocabulary I’m not going to talk about

today but this we’re already talking

about like brothers younger and older

sisters younger older brothers and so on

but there are other family related words

here that you can find and we also have

some family and relative related

greeting words here so when you meet

your relatives after a long time or you

get together for parties and so on so

this is a great one a great free thing

to get this week so please check this

out you can download this for free the

link for this if you’re watching on

youtube is below the video knock the

chat box in the description below the

video if you’re watching on facebook

check the link above the video it should

be above the chat box if you’re watching

on full screen or just in your newsfeed

if you’re not watching full screen so

please go download this and all the

other stuff that we have maybe I’ll show

this a bit later okay let’s get back to

it someone says Alicia your stuff is so

cool yeah thanks okay it’s our team our

awesome team okay let’s go to the next

part if you’re just joining us today’s

topic is how to talk about your fan

how to talk about your family so we

began we started today’s lesson by

talking about your family make up your

family make up the people in your family

so part 2 for today is this this how to

talk about professions professions

profession means job so how do you

explain your family members job so maybe

you can explain your job like I’m a

teacher I’m a scientist for example but

how do you explain your family members

job I will introduce some patterns let’s

begin ok let’s get to it so I’m using

this keyword bracket

so I’m going to use this keyword

relative relative so relative means

person in your family relative my

relative is blah blah blah I’m going to

use this so in this part please use the

person in your family that you want to

talk about so my mom my dad my brother

my sister my younger brother my older

sister substitute the person in your

family right here okay so let’s begin my

relative is AA or an plus their job

title their job title so quick review I

talked about the difference between a

and an over here yeah so we use an

before a vowel sound uh before a

consonant sound so my relative like my

mom is a teacher for example my mom is a

teacher teacher my dad is an

engineer engineer so you could use

mother or father if you use mother or

father to talk about your parents it

will sound a little more polite it’s not

wrong so it’s fine to use that so my my

mom is a teacher for example I’m used up

because teacher begins with a consonant

sound a teacher here my dad is an

engineer I used an because engineer

starts with a vowel sound in okay so

this is one pattern you can use to

introduce their job title there their

job title okay

then I’ll check your comments nice my

brother is a veterinarian nice one mom

means mother mom means mother mother mom

is like the more commonly used word for

mother okay then let’s say you want to

explain the industry so this is a

keyword for this pattern industry

industry means like the type of company

the kind of company so let’s try an

example like again my relative my mom or

my dad my mother or father works here’s

the point works for up or n again this

article is acupoint for today’s lesson

industry company so let’s say for

example uh my brother let’s say my

brother works for an electrical company

electrical company so electrical so that

means like electricity related they make

electricity or supply electricity my

brother works for an electrical company

sorry an electrical company so points

here one this s right here so we need to

conjugate this verb my subject my

brother my brother is the subject he so

work the verb work takes an S it’s a

regular verb my brother works

for you could say at if you want to um

both are okay here my brother works for

an electrical company so we can talk

about the industry the type of company

where our relative works idle says my

mother works for an housewife okay a

couple points

my mother’s job title so if your

mother’s job is housewife you don’t need

to include works for works for is used

for a company a type of company if you

want to introduce the job title just use

this pattern so my mother is a housewife

housewife my mother is a housewife my

father is a farmer good my sister works

for a beer company nice don’t forget

your article my sister works for a beer

company their other ones my sister works

for a factory ok interesting what kind

of factory so introduce the kind of job

the kind of company my father works for

a mechanical company nice my sister

works for a telecommunication company

great ok good my mother is a housewife

perfect you fixed it nice one thanks

okay what’s the pronunciation architect

architect my father is an architect

that’s how you say architect alright

good

let’s go to the next pattern then please

but I’m my relative works for company so

this one it’s a little hard to see my

relative works for company this one is

like the easier version maybe of this so

here we have the same works for we could

use app as well but here we’re using the

company name the company name that means

it’s probably a famous company for

example my sister

works for Apple or my father works for

Google for example so if you want to

explain with the company name like it’s

a really famous company use that so my

father works for Google my father works

at Google ah great one George on YouTube

my father is retired

my father is retired is retired no

article there no article my father is

retired great one I’ll add that here my

relative great keywords my relative is

retired retired so this means finished

working finished working because like of

old age or maybe an injury sometimes so

my you can’t see that sorry my father my

relative is retired retired we use this

in sports as well

retired another person says my dad is

deceased yes you can say that my dad my

father my mother is deceased or has

passed away yes if you need to explain

that that is correct okay

other things my father uh ah my father

worked for a certain facts um sorry I

missed the comment on Facebook but if

you want to talk about a past job just

change your verb here so here I’m using

the present tense in all of these

examples if you want to talk about a

past job just use the past tense my

father worked for something thanks it’s

okay I caught the question I think okay

so my father worked for my mother worked

for so use the past tense there I’m

exaggerating worked for worked for okay

let’s move along to the last point for

this one we’re almost out of time let’s

go to the last one if your relative has

their own company their own company

you can use the verb run to run a

company means they take care of the

company they do everything for the

company like management accounting

hiring people they run a company so my

mother runs um what kind of company my

mother my mother runs an education

company or my father runs a tech company

for example so you can use the word run

to talk about managing the company he or

she runs a company ok good um I have to

go quickly I didn’t realize how much I

was talking today so let’s continue on

without a break to the last part for

today’s lesson the last part for today’s

lesson is residents so residents means

the place where you live the place where

you live or for today’s lesson the place

where your family member lives so this

is some review I think for you guys a

lot of you guys but we live in we live

in finish this sentence with your city

or your country we live in Sao Paulo we

live in Thailand we live in Mongolia we

live in Senegal you can use your si or

your country this we could mean your

family it could mean you and your

husband or wife you and your siblings

whatever we live in a police ok another

one my parents live in my parents live

in point here is this s as S sound my

parents live in so again my parents is

our subject they two people they live in

Montana or they live in Brazil so my

parents live in again a city or a

country here next one to review sorry

we’re going quickly because of time ok

my mom or my dad I want to introduce

these two because I know in some cases

family members move around like for

business trips for example how do you

express that so to talk about family

members who move you can use these

expressions for example my mom travels

between a and B so like my mom travels

between New York and London or my mom

travels between Beijing and Tokyo for

example you can use travels between so

again this s don’t forget this s my mom

travels between a and B another way to

say it is goes back and forth between

I’m sorry goes back and forth between

plays my mom goes back and forth between

place a and place B so you can use both

of these to talk about someone who

travels a lot okay good and then um last

almost left if you want to talk about a

single parent like my dad lives in and

my mom lives in like poor you know your

siblings you can do that just make sure

you include this s in lives he or she

lives in lives in a little grammar

review today finally whew finally if you

want to talk about your siblings we

talked about siblings at the beginning

of today’s lesson your sibling so my

youngest or my oldest brother or sister

or to talk about your children my

youngest or oldest son or daughter lives

in you can do that with this pattern

here so my youngest son lives in Osaka

for example or my daughter you don’t

have to include these like my daughter

lives in Tokyo for example so there are

lots of ways we can combine all of this

stuff

good how do you say when we don’t have a

job ah I’m unemployed unemployed that’s

a good one

so that relates over here professions

unemployed not employed not having a job

unemployed okay good one for you

sorry I had to finish quickly I took a

long time on the the first parts of this

lesson but that’s okay thanks for all

your great questions that was awesome um

my younger brother lives in Hokkaido oh

really I hope he was okay in there

Thanks okay um good I have to finish

there for today because I’m totally out

of time I talk too much as usual so if

you missed it

today’s lesson is about how to talk

about your family this lesson was

recorded so you can find it on our

YouTube channel in English class 101 or

on our Facebook page so check one of

those and also don’t forget to get your

free stuff this week I showed you this

family and relatives PDF that has family

related keywords should I go to this

camera yeah family related keywords and

things so this is just one example hello

this is one example of the free stuff

that you can find from the link below

the video on youtube or above the video

on Facebook but there are lots and lots

of other things you can find too

ah this might be important your pets I

didn’t talk about pets today but for

many people I know pets are a part of

the family so this is another PDF that’s

free you can find from the link below

the video on youtube above the video on

Facebook so definitely go download these

after the lesson or just pause the

lesson and go download

oh wait so check those out if you have

not already you can download you just

need an account on the website you can

make one for free if you don’t have one

okay but I have to finish there for

today how is a lot of talking thanks so

much for sending your questions and for

sending all of your example sentences

that was awesome that was really helpful

I have to finish but next week we will

be back as always same time same channel

next week September 26th the topic will

be how to talk about your hobbies how to

talk about your hobbies so like we did

today I’ll do some kind of grammar

review of these really small points and

try to help you guys talk more naturally

about the things you like to do so this

should be a fun lesson I think how to

talk about your hobbies

next Wednesday September 26 so please

join us again at 10 p.m. Eastern Oh

9 p.m. daylight savings time No 9:10

p.m. check facebook and check YouTube

push the notification button and I think

it should be 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard

Time it usually is but if you’re not

sure check the Facebook page or check

the YouTube page there’s always like a

little waiting like kind of notification

you can get or just turn on

notifications for this live stream yay

so a few different strategies anyway

we’ll be back here at this time next

week so please join us in the meantime

please get your free stuff check the

YouTube channel for some other free

stuff that’s out there now too but I

will finish there so thank you so much

for joining us have a great day have a

great night enjoy your weekend and I

will see you again soon bye bye