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When would a person use the word родня? I know its literal meaning is relative but what does it loosely translate to in English in its contextual meaning?

Divi
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    Is not it an analogue of English word kin? Though for me, kin is rather outdated and pompous, while родня has low speech register (не могу перевести слово просторечный). – se0808 Jul 11 '15 at 19:25

2 Answers2

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Word родня does not just mean a relative - it refers to an extended group of relatives, essentially all and any people even remotely related to the person in question. A rather close English translation is extended family, however Russian родня has more of a connotation of familiarity. Quite often, it's used to describe the collection of all relatives, e.g. вся родня. For example:

Если вся моя родня будет ей не рада,
Не пеняйте на меня - я уйду из стада.

Another related word is родичи, which is colloquial form of родственники, meaning relatives.

EDIT: Following a comment from Andrey 'lolmaus' Mikhaylov, it's worth adding that word родня may also be used to indicate some (unqualified) relatives (e.g. "Провел выходные с родней") - yet it pretty much always used to refer to a plural relatives rather than one individual relative.

Aleks G
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  • Though i agree with this answer, i would like to emphasize that родня can be used as a direct synonym for relatives. "Я провел выходные с родней" = "I spent the weekend with my relatives". This doesn't necessarily mean that there was a clan gathering of two hundred people, it could mean just four people as well. – lolmaus - Andrey Mikhaylov Mar 11 '14 at 14:58
  • @Andrey'lolmaus'Mikhaylov Agree; my reference to "all and any", I believe, addresses it. Выходные с родней would certainly qualify as weekend with [some/any] relatives. I'll update the answer to add some as an option. – Aleks G Mar 11 '14 at 15:09
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    I would like to add that "родичи" can sometimes be used by young people to informally refer to their parents, mostly because "родители" sounds a bit too formal and is long to pronounce. E.g. "Родичи на дачу уехали, а брат остался дома." However, "Родня уехала на дачу." implies that the brother went with them. – Oleg Mar 11 '14 at 16:19
  • Can it be usd by couples to address each other affectionately meaning darling or sweetheart, etc? – Divi Mar 12 '14 at 02:34
  • @Divi I can't imagine this word being used in such context. First, it always refers to relatives (blood relatives), second, it's not affectionate at all - quite the opposite. – Aleks G Mar 12 '14 at 08:38
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You can also say about your relatives/family/dear friends as "they are my Родные/ they are Родные to me". When not used in plural, You can say it as You'd say sweetheart/dear/dearest - "родная" (f) and "родной" (m). For example, 'my sweetheart/my dear' to a woman - "родная my/my родная".

Although, google would translate "native", as in native land/home land - "родная land". But we all know, google translator usually sucks when it comes to context.

I hope this helps.

Lola Tink
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    Basically the question was about роднЯ, not about роднАя. – Artemix Mar 12 '14 at 11:18
  • Thanks I think that answers my question a lot better and as I am new to Russian, this difference of words makes more sense – Divi Mar 12 '14 at 11:45
  • Artemix, yes, I actually wanted to add my suggestion as a comment (and not a separate answer), but it didn't allow due to lack of reputation, so I had to put it as an actual answer. Bottom line, it helped! ;) – Lola Tink Mar 12 '14 at 16:07
  • This answer does not answer the question, it is about a different word. – Anixx Mar 17 '14 at 00:36