How to Say ‘Family’ in Korean

A person holding on to a family picture in a frame

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When introducing yourself or when making small talk, often the topic of ‘family’ comes up. Learn how to say family in Korean, and you will be able to talk about an extra topic when you meet somebody for the first time. It’s a great word to know when you’re learning Korean.

A person holding on to a family picture in a frame

‘Family’ in Korean

The word for ‘family’ in Korean is

가족 (gajok)

Family in Korean

The first part of the word, ‘가 (ga)’, often appears in other words related to family, such as 가정 (gajeong), which is a less commonly used word for ‘family’, or in restaurant names such as 유가네 (yugane), which would translate as ‘Yoo family’. Knowing the meaning of different parts of words can help you grow your vocabulary very quickly.

If you want to say ‘my family’, then instead of using 제 (je) or 내 (nae) for my, you can use 우리 (uri). Usually 우리 (uri) means ‘our’, but it can mean ‘my’ when referring to your family.


A Word of Caution About Romanization

Although it is possible to learn the words in this article by reading the Romanized versions of them, learning the Korean alphabet, known as Hangeul, will make it far easier for you to learn Korean properly. Reading words in Hangeul helps you make connections between words with similar meanings and can help you grow your vocabulary quickly.

It is possible to learn Hangeul in just ninety minutes, so what are you waiting for? Learn it now, and then you will be able to say ‘I can read Korean’.

How Many People Are in Your Family?

How many people are in your family

In English, people will often ask a question like ‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’ However, the same question in Korean would be ‘How many people are in your family?’ To answer this question, you should count your mother, father, brothers, and sisters. If you have sons or daughters, then you can count your spouse and children instead. You can then answer by saying something like ‘There are five people in my family’.

Look at the dialogue below to see how to ask about someone’s family in Korean:

A: 가족이 몇 명이에요? (gajogi myeot myeongieyo)

How many people are in your family?

B: 가족이 다섯 명이에요. (gajogi daseot myeongieyo)

There are five people in my family.

Sample Sentences

Example (Formal):

가족이 몇 명입니까? (gajogi myeot myeongimnikka)

How many people are in your family?

우리 가족은 모두 다섯명입니다. (uri gajogeun modu daseot myeongimnida)

There are five people in my family.

Example (Standard):

가족끼리 여행 중이에요. (gajokkkiri yeohaeng jungieyo)

We are travelling as just a family.

저는 가족들과 함께 경주에 갔어요. (jeoneun gajokdeulgwa hamkke gyeongjue gasseoyo)

I went to Gyeongju with my family.

Example (Informal):

그 파티에 가족도 초청할 거야? (geu patie gajokdo chocheonghal geoya)

Will you invite your family to the party?


Family is very important in Korean culture. Now that you know how to say ‘family’ in Korean, use it when introducing yourself or talking to your new friends. It will help you get to know them better.


    8 replies to "How to Say ‘Family’ in Korean"

    • Avatar for Porscha Porscha

      Hi! How would you congratulate a family? If someone got married and you want send the Family best wishes. Standard or formal. Ex: Congratulations Kim Family! Is it 김시덕이? Thanks!

      • Avatar for 90 Day Korean 90 Day Korean

        Hi, Porscha! You can say “축하합니다” for “Congratulations” generally. We don’t really say “Kim Family” directly, so you can say “경사났네요!” to say “a good event happened to the family”. ^^

    • Avatar for Lee Rae Mun Lee Rae Mun

      Hi! I’m a bit confused because here
      ‘To be bad is “shilta” when i translated it to google it says that its “nappeuda”
      But wheni looked at it in my korean app it says that “bad” is “anjowayo”.

      • Avatar for 90 Day Korean 90 Day Korean

        Hi, Lee! “To be bad” is “나쁘다” (nappeuda). “안좋다” (anjota) is the basic form of “anjowayo” which means “not good.” “싫다” (shilta) means “to be hateful.” ^^

    • Avatar for Koreancrush Koreancrush

      I really like these lessons but there is one thing that im confused about is that how to you use words in sentences, i mean you take half word of one and half of another to make a sentence?? Please clear this concept

      • Avatar for 90 Day Korean 90 Day Korean

        Hi Koreancrush! I’m not sure what you mean, you take vocabulary words and you put them into a sentence. You need to understand Korean grammar is a bit different from English grammar. The verbs come at the end and they’re conjugated based on the sentence. But nouns are always the same. Hope it helps! ^^

    • Avatar for amongidiots amongidiots

      I love these mini lessons, however I am always in doubt about the pronounciation. This lack of trust makes memorization useless. Could you add an audio bit to each word or sentence to make our learning more accurate? I never know if the bottom consonant is pronounced or weather I should pronounce the first sound as a K or a hard G

      • Avatar for 90 Day Korean 90 Day Korean

        Hi amongidiots, thank you for your suggestion! We are in the process of adding audio to our lessons and posts, and it should be available soon. ㄱ at the end should sound like a very light K. ㄱ at the start sound should be the middle of both, so it’s like soft K that is close to G. Say that if 1 is K and 10 is G, you should aim to be a 5. ^^

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