Hermanos, cuñados y sobrinos

Question

Hi All, Similar questions to this have been asked before on this forum but what I want to know is usage. What is commonly said in Spain.

I know that with some nouns the masculine plural can include feminine nouns as long as one masculine is present, For example PADRES can include mothers as long as one father is present.

I guess the same is true with hermanos and cuñados and sobrinos. But what do people say in general conversation, where in English we would say "Have you got any brothers of sisters?" Or "I have ten nephews and nieces",

Thanks, Bob RS

Welcome to SpanishDict, Bob. - rac1, Feb 9, 2015

Answer 1

The question would be "¿Tienes hermanos?"

The answer would be, if he had both, something like this: Sí, tengo un hermano y dos hermanas.

The same principle applies to the nephew, nieces and cousins, and whatever.

That's right, in many situations we use the male gender as neutral gender. Twenty years ago the RAE aprobed that you can also use the female gender as neutral, but it is not really used. - txustaboy, Feb 10, 2015