The Turkish Family Tree: Terms for Relatives You Didn't Know You Needed

English gets by with “uncle”, “aunt” and “sister-in-law”. Turkish is more precise: it often tells you which side of the family a relative belongs to and exactly how an in-law is connected to you. That precision is useful in daily life, and essential for following family storylines in Turkish series.

The immediate family

• anne / baba: mother / father
• ağabey (abi) / abla: older brother / older sister
• kardeş: sibling, often a younger one; erkek kardeş (brother), kız kardeş (sister)
• oğul / kız: son / daughter
• eş: spouse. Eşim (my spouse) is the neutral, polite choice; karım (my wife) and kocam (my husband) are common but more colloquial.
• dede: grandfather; anneanne: mother's mother; babaanne: father's mother; torun: grandchild

Aunts, uncles and cousins

• amca: father's brother
• hala: father's sister
• dayı: mother's brother
• teyze: mother's sister
• yenge: the wife of your uncle (amca or dayı), or the wife of your brother
• enişte: the husband of your aunt (hala or teyze), or the husband of your sister
• kuzen: cousin. Many people also say amca oğlu, dayı kızı, teyze oğlu, hala kızı and so on, which tells you exactly which cousin is meant.
• yeğen: niece or nephew

A simple way to remember: amca and hala are on the father's side; dayı and teyze are on the mother's side.

In-laws

• gelin: bride; daughter-in-law
• damat: groom; son-in-law
• kayınvalide: mother-in-law (the more colloquial word is kaynana)
• kayınpeder: father-in-law
• kayınbirader: brother-in-law, meaning your spouse's brother
• görümce: a woman's husband's sister
• baldız: a man's wife's sister
• elti: what the wives of two brothers are to each other
• bacanak: what the husbands of two sisters are to each other
• dünür: what the two sets of parents of a married couple are to each other

Grammar point: “my aunt”, “my uncle”

To say “my”, add the possessive suffix. After a vowel it is simply -m; after a consonant it is -ım/-im/-um/-üm by vowel harmony:

• amca → amcam, hala → halam, dayı → dayım, teyze → teyzem
• yenge → yengem, enişte → eniştem, dede → dedem
• kardeş → kardeşim, kuzen → kuzenim, yeğen → yeğenim
• Watch out for two changes: damat → damadım (t becomes d before a vowel) and oğul → oğlum (the second vowel drops).

For “his/her”, use -(s)ı/-(s)i, with a buffer s after vowels: Ali'nin dayısı (Ali's uncle), Elif'in teyzesi (Elif's aunt). And a very common colloquial trick: adding -ler/-lar means “X and family” or “X's place”: annemler = my parents, or my mum's household; teyzemlere gidiyoruz = we're going to my aunt's.

Example sentences

• Teyzem İzmir'de yaşıyor. (My aunt, my mother's sister, lives in İzmir.)
• Dayımın iki çocuğu var. (My uncle, my mother's brother, has two children.)
• Halamın oğlu benim en yakın arkadaşım. (My cousin, my father's sister's son, is my closest friend.)
• Bu akşam eniştemlere gidiyoruz. (We're going to my uncle's place this evening.)
• Kayınvalidem çok güzel yemek yapar. (My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook.)

Common learner mistakes

• Mixing up hala and teyze (or amca and dayı). Check the side of the family: father = amca, hala; mother = dayı, teyze.
• Saying “benim teyze”. The possessive suffix is required: teyzem or benim teyzem.
• Forgetting the consonant change in damadım and the vowel drop in oğlum.

What you'll notice in dizi

Family dramas lean heavily on these relationships. The tension between a new gelin and her kaynana or görümce is a well-worn stereotype in Turkish comedy and drama, though real families are of course far more varied. When a character announces “O benim dayım!”, you now know instantly which side of the family is involved, which is often exactly the point of the scene.