# Blood Relations — Draw the Family Tree and Never Get Confused

Source: https://skills101.in/learn/reasoning/blood-relations — Skills101 free tutorial (Logical Reasoning). Updated 2026-11-09.

Blood relation questions describe a family in words and ask how two people are related. Doing it in your head causes mistakes. **Draw it.**

## 1. The symbols

![Family tree symbols: a square for a male, a circle for a female, a horizontal line for a married couple and vertical lines for children, across three generations](https://skills101.in/learn-img/reasoning/family-symbols.svg)

- **Square** = male, **circle** = female (or write + and −)
- **Horizontal double line / orange line** = married couple
- **Vertical line** = parent → child
- **Same level** = same generation (brothers, sisters, cousins)

In the picture: Ram and Sita are married; their children are Amit and Neha. Amit is married to Riya; their son is Kabir. So Kabir's **grandfather** is Ram, his **aunt** is Neha (father's sister), and his **mother** is Riya.

## 2. Relation names to know

| Relation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Father's / mother's father | Grandfather |
| Father's brother | Uncle (chacha / tau) |
| Mother's brother | Uncle (mama) |
| Father's sister | Aunt (bua) |
| Brother's / sister's son | Nephew |
| Brother's / sister's daughter | Niece |
| Uncle's or aunt's child | Cousin |
| Wife's / husband's brother | Brother-in-law |
| Son's wife | Daughter-in-law |
| Only son of my father | Me (if I am male)! |

## 3. Solved examples

### Example 1
*A is the brother of B. B is the daughter of C. D is the father of C. How is A related to D?*

Draw: D → C → (A, B). A is a male child of C, and C is a child of D → A is D's **grandson**.

### Example 2 — the photograph
*Pointing to a photograph, Raj says, "She is the daughter of my grandfather's only son." Who is she?*

Grandfather's only son = Raj's father. Daughter of Raj's father = Raj's **sister**.

> **Trick:** start from the **end** of the sentence ("my grandfather's only son") and work backwards to the person.

### Example 3
*Introducing a man, a woman says, "His mother is the only daughter of my mother." How is the woman related to the man?*

Only daughter of my mother = the woman herself. So she is the man's **mother**.

### Example 4 — gender unknown
*P is the sibling of Q. Q is the son of R. How is P related to R?*

P is R's child, but P's gender is not given → P is R's **son or daughter** (cannot be determined exactly). Options like "cannot be determined" are real answers.

## 4. Coded relations

*A + B means A is the father of B; A − B means A is the wife of B; A × B means A is the brother of B; A ÷ B means A is the daughter of B.*

### Example 5
*What does P × Q + R mean?*

P is the brother of Q, and Q is the father of R → P is R's **uncle** (father's brother).

### Example 6
*Which expression means "M is the mother of N"?*

We need M as N's mother: M − (father of N). So **M − O + N** means M is the wife of O, and O is the father of N → M is N's mother ✓.

## Common mistakes

- Assuming gender from a name. If it is not stated, it is unknown.
- Reading the sentence from the front in photograph questions. Start from "my …" at the end.
- Forgetting that "only son" or "only daughter" often means the speaker or their parent.

## Quick recap

- Square = male, circle = female, horizontal line = married, vertical line = child.
- Draw generation by generation.
- Photograph questions: decode from "my …" backwards.
- Don't assume gender.


Practice quiz and free certificate: https://skills101.in/learn/reasoning/blood-relations