What's or Who's the daughter of your brother or sister?

What’s the daughter of your brother or sister?
Who’s the daughter of your brother or sister?

Question: Which one is correct? Or both are okay?
Or can I say "what do you call the daughter of your brother or sister? "

Thank you!!!

The correct way to ask about the word that refers to the daughter of one’s sibling is “What do you call the daughter of your brother or sister?”.

“Who’s the daughter of your brother?” is a correct way to ask about the identity of an individual.

The first sentence is not the correct way to ask about someone’s identity or name, and it is an awkward way to ask what the relationship is called.

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Thank you very much!!!

Is it okay to use “what’s… called?” or “how do you call…?” these two sentence structures?

Probably either, but “what’s … called?” or “what do you call …” might sound more natural.

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We wouldn’t actually say, “What’s/Who’s the daughter of your brother or sister?”, but rather, Who’s your niece?/What’s your niece’s name?/What’s your niece called?

If more than one niece (plural):
Who are your nieces?/What are your nieces’ names?/What are your nieces called?

If asking about the daughter of a certain, specific brother, you would ask:
Who’s your brother’s daughter?/What’s your brother’s daughter called?/What‘s the name of your brother’s daughter?/What’s your brother’s daughter’s name?

Alternatively:
Who’s your sister’s daughter?/What’s your sister’s daughter called?/What’s the name of your sister’s daughter?/ What’s your sister’s daughter’s name?

(Use ‘nephew/s‘ for male child/children of someone’s sibling/s )

And of course, if you ask about the nieces of several sisters combined :rofl::
Who are the daughters of your sisters?/ What are your sisters’ daughters called?/What are the names of your sisters’ daughters?

Or…the individual brother could have more than one daughter…:rofl::rofl::
What are your brother’s daughters’ names? And so on. :grin:

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I think you’re overcomplicating it slightly for the OP! The answer to the orginal question is that who is correct and what is incorrect.

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I know. I was in a silly mood. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: But it might be useful for someone :grin:

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A: What do you call the daughter of your brother or sister?
B: Niece.

A: What’s the son of your brother or sister called?
B: Nephew.

A: Who’s the child of your aunt or uncle?
B: Cousin.

I want to get the answer to “niece”, “nephew” or “cousin”, so are the questions correct?

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I’m wondering about what you are really asking with this question, lilyyang.
— What do you call the daughter of your brother or sister?
– The word for that is ‘niece.’
— How many nieces do you have?
– I have two nieces.
— What are your nieces’ names?
– Who wants to know?

“What do you call,” followed by a description of the word, is a general way of asking “What is the word for … ?” So it will always be “what do you call …” rather than “who do you call . . .” even if you’re talking about the word for a person. Sometimes people will specifically ask “what do you call” instead of “what is the word for” when they know that different people have different words for the same thing.
https://twitter.com/VictoriaIdoni/status/1133537812970655752

This is also how a lot of bad jokes begin.

What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?
Nacho cheese. (Not yo’ cheese.)

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Ha ha ha ha, thank you for sharing the joke, I like it. It makes learning English more fun.

Sorry about asking the question not clearly. Sometimes I have trouble asking a question.

Yes, I wanted to get the answer to “niece”, “nephew” or “cousin”, and I’m not sure what the questions are like.

  1. A: What do you call the daughter of your brother or sister?
    B: Niece.
  2. A: What’s the son of your brother or sister called?
    B: Nephew.
  3. A: Who’s the child of your aunt or uncle?
    B: Cousin.

So only number 1 is a correct question?

  1. “What do you call [this]” is generally best, in my opinion.
  2. “What [is this] called?” is also fine.
  3. I wouldn’t use this wording for this kind of question, but rather (as khardy has already explained):
    “What is the child of your aunt or uncle called?” or “What do you call the child of your aunt or uncle?”

In some languages, you have to distinguish between the son or daughter of your aunt or uncle, but luckily you don’t have to worry about that in English. They’re all called cousins.

side comment:
In Dutch it’s simpler and yet more complicated. Your nieces and your female cousins are all called your nichten (or nichtjes); your nephews and your male cousins are all called your neven (or neefjes). So in some places they make the distinction by who you are: if you’re an uncle (oom), you call your nieces and nephews oomzegger(tje)s (uncle-callers); if you’re an aunt (tante), you call your nieces and nephews tantezegger(tje)s (aunt-callers).

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Thanks a lot, brucenator!!!

Yes, you are right. In Chinese, we have different words for uncle, aunt, nephew, niece and cousin if it’s from your father’s side or mother’s side. It’s very complicated.

If you are seeking “your niece”, then the question is " What do you call the daughter of your brother or sister? "
Also, "What is the daughter of your brother or sister called? "

Neither of these are correct:
What’s the daughter of your brother or sister?
Who’s the daughter of your brother or sister?

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