la família
“la família” — family in Valencian. Noun, level A1, topic — people and family. A false friend: it is the family, not the surname — the surname is el cognom. Stress on the í: fa-MÍ-lia. In a live sentence: “El diumenge dina tota la família” — On Sunday the whole family has lunch together. One of 129 words in the set “people and family” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | la família |
| Translation | family |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
A false friend: it is the family, not the surname — the surname is el cognom. Stress on the í: fa-MÍ-lia
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- El diumenge dina tota la famíliaOn Sunday the whole family has lunch together
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- l'amicfriendThe article shrinks before the vowel: l'amic, l'amiga. A mere acquaintance is un conegut
- la maremotherThe neutral word, for documents and talk about third persons. The cuddly mum is mamà, stress at the end. The sea is el mar — the article tells them apart
- el parefatherThe cuddly one is papà, stress at the end. The accent decides: papa without it is potato and the Pope
- el fillchildA child as somebody's son or daughter. In the plural els fills is children in general; the toddler on his own is el xiquet, a Valencian word the central norm swaps for nen
- la personapersonA person of any kind; grammatically feminine even about men: una persona amable
- l'homemanAn adult man; the plural homes. Not to be mixed with the house — that is la casa
- la donawomanAn adult woman; the wife in older speech: la meva dona
- el joveyoung manLiterally young man: jove is the adjective young
- la noiayoung womanA girl or young woman; the everyday address for waitresses too
- l'anciàelderly manThe respectful old person: l'ancià, l'ànciana. Say it this way and you will never go wrong
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “family” in Valencian?
A false friend: it is the family, not the surname — the surname is el cognom. Stress on the í: fa-MÍ-lia
- How do you say “woman” in Valencian?
An adult woman; the wife in older speech: la meva dona
- How do you say “father” in Valencian?
The cuddly one is papà, stress at the end. The accent decides: papa without it is potato and the Pope
- How do you say “elderly man” in Valencian?
The respectful old person: l'ancià, l'ànciana. Say it this way and you will never go wrong
- How do you say “man” in Valencian?
An adult man; the plural homes. Not to be mixed with the house — that is la casa
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “family” in Valencian?
«la família». In a live sentence: “El diumenge dina tota la família” — On Sunday the whole family has lunch together. Noun, level A1, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A false friend: it is the family, not the surname — the surname is el cognom. Stress on the í: fa-MÍ-lia. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.