When you have finished this lesson you can:

●     Describe family relationships

●     Use  prepositions

●     Use subordinate sentences

Many Spanish households now have two incomes where both partners are working. The classical structure of the husband earning all the family income and the wife being a housewife and mother still exists but is getting less common.

As state-provided child care for children under 3 years has very limited numbers of places available, many mothers take time off from work or work only part time until their children are 3 years old and can go into state-provided kindergarten (guarderias). Private child care services are available but are often too expensive for lower income groups. For this reason and upkeeping with traditions, the extended family, especially the grandparents, still play a very important role in family life. Many grandmothers look after their small grandchildren whilst the mothers return to work.

And in most families, it is normal to get together on Sundays at the grandparents’ house (or whoever has the biggest house), bringing together at least 3 generations for lunch.

If you are married you can say:

In Spanish there are two words to say you’re in a relationship, you can say novio (male) or novia (female) and whether you are male or female, you can say pareja.

If you live with someone you can say:

If you want to ask for someone's civil status please ask: