Start with the relationship, not an English label
This unit keeps the existing family and people vocabulary together: 妈妈, 爸爸, 姐姐, 朋友, 老师, 妹妹, 哥哥, 弟弟, 爷爷 and 奶奶. The first two are familiar everyday words for mother and father. The sibling words specify relative age, while the grandparent words also identify a side of the family. 朋友 and 老师 name a social relationship and a role rather than a blood relationship. Keeping them in this unit lets you introduce people around you, but it does not make them relatives. For each picture, ask who the person is in relation to the speaker. That question often determines the correct Chinese word more accurately than the English label alone.
Older and younger siblings have different names
姐姐 means an older sister and 妹妹 means a younger sister. 哥哥 and 弟弟 make the corresponding distinction for brothers. The age comparison is normally with the person whose sibling is being discussed, not with the listener or with an absolute age threshold. A forty-year-old woman can still be her brother's 妹妹. If English simply says sister, you may need more context before choosing between the two words. 兄弟姐妹 can refer collectively to brothers and sisters, but it is not a casual substitute for every individual sibling term. In a family introduction, 我姐姐 and 我弟弟 identify the relationship directly and naturally without requiring the speaker to give everybody's age.
Grandparent words can identify the family branch
In the standard Mandarin meanings taught here, 爷爷 is a father's father and 奶奶 is a father's mother. For a mother's parents, common terms include 外公 and 外婆, with 姥爷 and 姥姥 also widely used in some regions. Family and regional preferences vary, so a learner should ask what a particular family actually says. The important distinction is that an English word such as grandmother does not automatically select 奶奶 in every context. The same need for detail appears in many aunt and uncle terms, although those are outside this picture set. A simple family tree can help you check whose parent or sibling you mean before choosing a form of address.
Light syllables and familiar ways of speaking
The repeated characters in 妈妈 and 爸爸 do not usually receive identical stress in everyday Mandarin. The second syllable is normally light, which is why this unit writes māma and bàba. Similar neutral syllables appear in several other familiar family words. A missing tone mark on that final syllable is intentional. In casual speech, 妈 and 爸 can also be used directly as forms of address, while 母亲 and 父亲 are more formal vocabulary. Do not assume these choices differ only in length. Their social tone changes too. Read the family terms in the short examples before deciding which version would sound natural in a conversation, a letter or a formal description.
Friends, teachers and names follow their own patterns
朋友 combines two elements associated with friendship; it names a friend, not two separate people. 老师 is an established word for teacher, and its 老 does not mean that the teacher must be elderly. A young teacher is still a 老师. When a surname is included in a title, it normally comes first, as in 王老师. 老 and 小 can also appear before surnames in familiar ways of addressing people, such as 老王 and 小李, but familiarity and relative age affect whether that sounds appropriate. These forms are not automatic replacements for family terms. With a teacher you have just met, a surname followed by 老师 is often the clearer starting pattern.
Introduce people and make possession clear
这是我妈妈 means this is my mother. With close family relationships, 的 can often be omitted after a personal pronoun, so 我妈妈 and 我的妈妈 are both possible. That useful pattern should not become a rule to remove 的 everywhere. 我朋友 is also common in conversation, but the longer 我的朋友 can make the relationship explicit. To count people, 个 is common and 位 can show politeness, as in 两位老师. Now introduce the people in the pictures using 这是, then try a sentence about what each person does. Keep the sibling age distinction and the paternal grandparent meanings accurate as you change the speaker. Changing who says 我 can change the relationship word you need. A question such as 你有哥哥吗 asks specifically about an older brother. Having a younger brother does not make the correct answer to that particular question yes. Pay attention to the relationship stated in the question before answering.