Language/Burmese/Vocabulary/Family
Hi Burmese learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about Burmese family vocabulary. Knowing family vocabulary will help you to talk about your own family and understand when others talk about their family. Being able to talk about family is especially useful for travelers or if you are planning to live with a host family.
Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Drinks, Clothes, Basic Greetings & Express Surprise.
Burmese Family Structure[edit | edit source]
Burmese family structure is quite different from Western cultures. Burmese families are typically large and extended, with multiple generations living together. The extended family is highly valued and respected, with many families following the tradition of the youngest son and his wife living with his parents to take care of them in their old age.
Burmese Family Vocabulary[edit | edit source]
In the table below, you will find some common Burmese family vocabulary.
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| မိခင် | [miɡàɴ] | mother |
| သမီး | [θəma̰jí] | wife |
| အိုင် | [àɪ̀ɴ] | father |
| သား | [θá] | husband |
| အဖွဲ့ | [əpʰwè] | grandparents |
| ကျား | [tɕá] | son |
| မိုး | [mó] | daughter |
| အရာ | [əjà] | sibling |
| အမျိုးသား | [əmjóðá] | cousins |
| မိသား | [məðá] | nephew |
| မိဇမြစ် | [mèdʑə mjɪʔ] | niece |
- Son: ကျား (tɕá)
- Daughter: မိုး (mó)
- Father: အိုင် (àɪ̀ɴ)
- Mother: မိခင် (miɡàɴ)
- Grandparents: အဖွဲ့ (əpʰwè)
- Siblings: အရာ (əjà)
- Cousins: အမျိုးသား (əmjóðá)
- Nephew: မိသား (məðá)
- Niece: မိဇမြစ် (mèdʑə mjɪʔ)
Dialogue[edit | edit source]
To illustrate the vocabulary in context, here is a dialogue between two people about their family:
- Person 1: ငါ့သူ ကို သေချာပါတယ် (Ngài thú kha-upà-tà) (My husband is tall)
- Person 2: ငါ့သိုးလည် ဘယ်တော့တွေ ရှိပါသလဲ။ (Ngài-thó-lè ba-xà-dau-twé htòba-tau?) (Do you have any sisters?)
- Person 1: မိန်းသား ၁ယောက်ပါ (Mén-thá á-yaukpa) (I have one younger brother)
Interesting Facts[edit | edit source]
Did you know that in Burmese culture, the mother's side of the family is considered more significant than the father's side? This is reflected in the language, where there are different words for maternal and paternal grandparents. Additionally, many Burmese give their children animal names such as "fish" or "tiger" instead of traditional English names. This tradition is based on the Burmese astrological system, which assigns an animal to each year.
Practice Exercises[edit | edit source]
To practice the vocabulary we just learned, here are some exercise questions:
1. What is the Burmese word for father? 2. How do you say "wife" in Burmese? 3. What is the Burmese word for grandparents? 4. How do you say "brother" in Burmese? 5. What is the Burmese word for nephew?
To check your answers, go to the Polyglot Club and ask for help with Burmese questions.
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Burmese language - Wikipedia
- Learn Burmese - Lesson 5: Family | L-Lingo
- Burmese Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com
Videos[edit | edit source]
Let's Learn Burmese Words ! " Family Members " - YouTube[edit | edit source]
Burmese Listening: My Family - YouTube[edit | edit source]
Burmese Language Lesson 9 ( words of the family) - YouTube[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Feelings and Emotions
- Days of the Week
- Months of the Year
- Greetings
- Cardinal Directions
- Fruits
- How to Say Hello and Greetings
- How to say Good Bye?
- Geography
- Count to 10