家族

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 私の家族は四人です。▶ —
   My family has four people.
2. 家族と一緒に旅行に行きます。▶ —
   I go on a trip with my family.

Collocations

Mnemonic

かぞく — 家族, Sino-Japanese. The Korean reading gajok matches character for character. Open the two kanji: 家 (house) + 族 (clan / group) = 'the people gathered under one roof'. 家 itself is a roof (宀) over a pig (豕) — a relic of the old agricultural household where livestock shared the home. 家族 is neutral on its own; you can use it for your own family or someone else's. Counting members uses ~人 nin ── 家族は四人です (the family is four people). The in-group / out-group split only kicks in at member-level titles ── your own mother: 母 haha. someone else's: お母さん okaasan. The same split runs through 兄 · 姉 · 弟 · 妹 · 父 · 母 ── the core rule of the family-word matrix. You meet these characters again in Mandarin Roots, as 家 and 族.

Quick check

1. How do you say "my family has five people"?

   • 家族は五人です (correct, 人 for people)
   • 家族は五個です (個 for objects, wrong)
   • 家族は五匹です (匹 for small animals)
   • 家族は五枚です (枚 for flat objects)