In-Laws 不再驚慌：Mother-in-Law、Brother-in-Law 與姻親家人

你正試著解釋「我老公的姊姊的老公下週末要來」，講到第三、第七個字之間，英文就背叛了你。他算是 brother-in-law？Cousin-in-law？還是只能說「my husband's sister's husband」？英文的姻親系統其實沒有看起來那麼複雜——一旦掌握規律，大多數情境都能優雅應付。

快速解答

把 -in-law 加到基本親屬詞後面：mother、father、brother、sister、son、daughter → mother-in-law、father-in-law、brother-in-law、sister-in-law、son-in-law、daughter-in-law。複數加在第一個字上：mothers-in-law、brothers-in-law。比較遠房的姻親，英文通常會說「my husband's cousin」或「my wife's uncle」，而不是另外造一個詞。

母語人士實際會說的話

對象 英文稱呼 備註
配偶的母親 mother-in-law 永遠要加連字號。
配偶的父親 father-in-law 同樣模式。
配偶的兄弟 brother-in-law
配偶的姊妹 sister-in-law
配偶姊妹的丈夫 brother-in-law 是的——也是 brother-in-law。
兒子的妻子 daughter-in-law 嫁給你兒子的人。
女兒的丈夫 son-in-law 娶你女兒的人。
配偶的父母（集合） my in-laws 輕鬆、友善。
配偶的表親／姑姨 "my wife's cousin / aunt" 英文用所有格表達。
配偶家人總稱 "my husband's family" / "my in-laws' side" 兩者都通。

常見錯誤

  • "My mother in law is here." → "My mother-in-law is here." · 書寫時永遠要加連字號。
  • "My mother-in-laws called." → "My mother-in-law called." (一人) / "My mothers-in-law called." (兩人) · 複數的 -s 加在「mother」，不是「law」。
  • "She is my husband sister." → "She is my husband's sister." or "She is my sister-in-law." · 所有格 's 是必要的。
  • "I went to dinner with my in laws." → "I went to dinner with my in-laws." · 要加連字號。這是「配偶家人總稱」的詞。
  • "He is my law brother." → "He is my brother-in-law." · 順序固定：親屬詞 + 「-in-law」。
  • "My step mother-in-law." → "My husband's stepmother." · 英文通常不會把「step」和「in-law」疊用；改用所有格重新表達。

迷你對話

Dialogue 1 — Weekend plans A: Doing anything fun this weekend? B: My in-laws are coming over. Big dinner. A: How many of them? B: Parents, both brothers-in-law, and one sister-in-law with her two kids. A: That's a lot of cooking. B: My husband's doing the cooking. I'm doing the smiling.

Dialogue 2 — Family chart confusion A: Wait, who's Marcus again? B: My brother-in-law. He's married to my sister. A: Oh — so he's your sister's husband. B: Right, but in English we just say "brother-in-law" for both directions — sibling's spouse or spouse's sibling. A: That's actually convenient. B: Saves a lot of breath.

語氣筆記

In-laws 可以中性、溫暖、或是話中有話——脈絡會告訴你是哪一種。「I'm so lucky with my in-laws」是真誠的；「you know how in-laws are」則偏向心領神會的翻白眼幽默。在英語職場，提到 in-laws 是正常的閒聊——「we're spending the holidays with my in-laws」說出來完全安全。對不熟的人別批評 in-laws；在英文裡這比抱怨自己的父母更扣分。介紹時，「This is my mother-in-law, Carol」適用任何場合。一時想不起精確的稱呼也沒關係，「my wife's brother」或「my husband's mom」永遠聽得懂，也永遠禮貌。

練習：選出最自然的句子

  1. 在派對上介紹老公的母親：

    • A. "This is my mother in law."
    • B. "This is my mother-in-law."

  2. 提到配偶的兩位兄弟：

    • A. "Both my brothers-in-law live nearby."
    • B. "Both my brother-in-laws live nearby."

  3. 向新朋友介紹姊姊的丈夫：

    • A. "He's my brother-in-law."
    • B. "He's my sister husband."

解答

  1. B — 書寫時要加連字號；口語讀法相同。
  2. A — 複數的 -s 加在「brothers」，不是「law」。
  3. A — Brother-in-law 同時涵蓋「手足的配偶」與「配偶的手足」；B 缺少所有格 's。

小結

把 -in-law 加在六個核心親屬詞後面，永遠加連字號，複數放在第一個字上。集體稱呼用 my in-laws。比較遠房的姻親，英文直接跳過稱呼，用所有格表達：「my husband's cousin」、「my wife's uncle」。系統簡單、語氣友善，這樣就搞定了。