grandparent

Everyday

1. A grandparent is a parent of your mother or father: your grandmother or your grandfather. tree →
2. Your grandparents are both or all of them together. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life grandparents often care for children, tell family stories and visit on holidays. In family-tree lessons, grandparents are two generations above you; each person usually has four grandparents. Words for them: grandma, gran, nan, nana, granny, grandpa, grandad, pop. Phrases: on my mum's side, great-grandparent.

Examples

• My grandparents live by the sea. tree →
• Every child has four grandparents. tree →
• Gran is my favourite grandparent because she bakes. tree →
• We visit our grandparents at Thanksgiving. tree →
• My grandparent on Dad's side came from Ireland. tree →
• Grandparents' Day is a special day at our school. tree →
• A great-grandparent is a parent of a grandparent. tree →
• She phones her grandparents every Sunday. tree →
• The sweet children rode on their hobby-horses through all the rooms when they came to see the grandparents. tree →

Note

Countable: a grandparent, two grandparents. Written as one word. Grandmother = female, grandfather = male. Maths: if each parent has 2 parents, you have 2 x 2 = 4 grandparents and 8 great-grandparents.