Riglos  +  139744 Tue, 20 Sep 05 03:50 PM Hi everybody! I want to know if there exists a generic term to refer to brothers and sisters, as "children" or "kids" would be for sons / daughters. If I wanted to say how many brothers and sisters I have in all, which term could I use? e.g., I have two brothers and two sisters        I have four ..............? Thanks a lot! Mara. PS: In Spanish, we would say Tengo cuatro hermanos to refer to male as well as female brothers / sisters. Riglos Joined on Thu, Sep 15 2005 Full Member 169

	Coachpotato  +  139749 Tue, 20 Sep 05 03:56 PM I don't think there's a generic word for this in English, there's the word 'siblings' which refers to both brothers and sisters, but it's too formal. Let's see what native speakers say.     Coachpotato Joined on Wed, Jul 20 2005 Spain Full Member 233 http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/coachpotato/miscellaneous/santa_toys2.gif

	pieanne  +  139758 Tue, 20 Sep 05 04:09 PM I'm with CoachP here... Can't think of anything unformal.   pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	Riglos  +  139763 Tue, 20 Sep 05 04:16 PM Thanks for your replies guys! But... would you say "I have three brothers and sisters" if you had three in all, i.e., one brother and two sisters? Is that the most common way to put it? Mara. PS: commonest or most common? Riglos

	pieanne  +  139765 Tue, 20 Sep 05 04:22 PM "We're four kids at home" "I have x brother(s) and x sister(s)".   pieanne

	Riglos  +  139768 Tue, 20 Sep 05 04:28 PM Hi Pieanne! I really like your version, but what if we are neither kids nor do we live at the same place? I think "we are four kids at home" doesn't apply in this case, what do you think? Regards, Mara. Riglos Regards

	pieanne  +  139770 Tue, 20 Sep 05 04:29 PM    My parents have four kids? There are four of us kids?     pieanne

	LanguageLover  +  140093 Wed, 21 Sep 05 09:34 AM "Commonest" and "the most common" are both correct, like "cleverest" and "the most clever". However, "commonest" is commoner! LanguageLover Joined on Fri, Feb 25 2005 Contributing Member 1,507 The similarities among the languages are more than their differences!