Czech Family Words: máma, táta, babička — and můj/moje
Family is the first thing people ask about and the easiest thing to talk about — the words are short, warm, and mostly guessable.
The Core Family
| Czech | English |
|---|---|
| máma / maminka | mum / mummy |
| táta / tatínek | dad / daddy |
| bratr | brother |
| sestra | sister |
| syn | son |
| dcera | daughter |
| rodina | family |
Grandparents & Spouses
babička — grandma (the most powerful person in any Czech family), dědeček — grandpa, manžel — husband, manželka — wife. The formal parents: matka (mother), otec (father) — for forms and officialdom; at home it's máma and táta.
Moje babička je z Brna.
My grandma is from Brno.
Note: babička — the keeper of Sunday lunch and the chata garden.
My — Two Ways
"My" agrees with the noun's gender, which you can read straight off the ending: můj bratr (masculine), moje sestra (feminine), moje auto (neuter).
| Gender | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | můj | můj bratr, můj táta |
| feminine | moje | moje sestra, moje máma |
| neuter | moje | moje auto |
Introducing People
The To je… pattern from First Sentences carries the whole family album: To je můj bratr. To je moje máma. Add ages with the je mi construction — Je jí dvacet (she's twenty).
To je moje rodina. To je můj bratr Petr.
This is my family. This is my brother Petr.
Těší mě! A kdo je to?
Nice to meet you! And who's that?
To je babička. A to je Rex.
That's grandma. And that's Rex.
Rex je velký pes!
Rex is a big dog!
Common Mistakes
- můj sestra. Feminine takes moje: moje sestra, moje máma.
- dcera vs sestra. dcera is daughter, sestra is sister — close in sound, different generations.
- Forgetting babička's -čk-. It's ba-BIČ-ka in spelling but BA-bič-ka in stress — first syllable, as always.
What You Can Do Now
You can name everyone at the table, say whose they are with the right můj/moje, and introduce your family to Czech friends — To je moje rodina.