Traditionally, Dena'ina included many more terms for relatives than English speakers are used to. For example, Dena'ina used separate terms for "older sister" and "younger sister" and different terms for an uncle on your mother's side (mother's brother) and and uncle on your father's side (father's brother). There are slightly different terms for a male's relatives and a female's relatives. There are sometimes different terms for relatives older than oneself and younger than oneself.

There are two types of terms for relatives:

1. Terms used to address the person when they are present, called vocative terms.
2. Terms used to talk about a relative when they are not present. These follow the system of inherently possessed terms also described in the "Introduction to Possession."

TERMS USED TO ADDRESS RELATIVES WHO ARE PRESENT
(Vocative Terms)

Vocative terms are typically independent, not requiring attachment to a pronoun such as my, our, etc.

TERMS USED TO REFER TO RELATIVES WHO ARE NOT PRESENT

The term consists of a prefix and a root.

• The prefix indicates the possessive pronoun (such as my, our, etc.).
• The root indicates the relative being referred to.

Neither the prefix (the equivalent of my, our, etc.) or the root (the equivalent of uncle, brother, etc.) can be used apart. They must be combined as one word.

Attach any of the prefixes from the table on the left to any of the roots from the table on the right.