在和老外閑聊的時候，

老外突然問了一句：

• "Do you have a family？"

family我們知道是"家, 家庭",  

難道他在問: “你有家嗎？”

然后傻乎乎的回答：

• Yes I do,  there are five people in my family. 

是的，我有家，我家有5口人。

這時候恐怕老外會覺得很尷尬吧！

其實正確的理解應(yīng)該是：

• Do you have a family？

• 你成家了嗎？有孩子嗎？

For native speakers the family has always been the extended family. That probably came because they had lots of contact many of my relations when I was very young.

對于以英語為母語的人來說，這里的family被認為是你自己組建的新家庭。這可能是常規(guī)的family多是在我們的小時候與我們的聯(lián)系更多。

They wouldn't ask "Do you have a family?" if I were referring to parents or other extended family, unless I were a foster child or something.  

如果真的想問對方的父母或親戚時，是不會用“Do you have a family?”來問的，除非背景是你在和一個收養(yǎng)的孩子聊天。

更常見的情況就是直接具體的問：

"Do you have parents nearby?" 

你的父母在你身邊嗎？

"Do you have brothers and sisters?" 

你有兄弟姐妹嗎？

"Do you have a family?" 的隱含義其實是"Do you have a spouse/partner and children?"（你有伴侶或者孩子嗎？你組建你自己的家庭了嗎？）

如果你結(jié)婚了,你就回答：

• Yes，I'm married. 嗯，我結(jié)婚了；

如果你沒有結(jié)婚, 你就回答：

• NO. I'm single. 我單身。