## 1. What is blood-relation reasoning? These puzzles describe family connections and ask you to infer how one person is related to another. They are useful subskills of Logical Reasoning and Puzzles in the official TNPSC reasoning syllabus.
## 2. Three essential rules **Generations:** Grandparents are two generations above (+2); parents, uncles and aunts are one above (+1); siblings and cousins are the same generation (0); children are one below (−1); grandchildren are two below (−2).
**Gender and relation:** Use only genders explicitly supplied. A mother's brother is a maternal uncle; a father's sister is a paternal aunt. Do not infer an unknown person's gender from a name alone.
**Draw a family tree:** Show spouses on one level, parents above children and siblings at the same level. Put only confirmed links in the diagram.
## 3. Five-step shortcut First identify whose relationship is being asked. Split complex descriptions into one link at a time. Draw the generations. Do not invent ages or genders. Finally, verify the relationship from the viewpoint requested by the question.
## 4. Five fully worked examples
### Example 1 – Father's only daughter **Question:** Ravi is male. His father's only daughter is Meena. How is Meena related to Ravi? **Working:** Ravi and Meena share a father. Meena is that father's daughter and Ravi is male. Therefore they are siblings. **Answer: Sister.**
### Example 2 – Mother's brother **Question:** Anu's mother is Latha. Latha's brother is Kumar. How is Kumar related to Anu? **Working:** Latha is one generation above Anu. Kumar is Latha's brother and is also one generation above Anu. A mother's brother is her maternal uncle. **Answer: Maternal uncle.**
### Example 3 – Aunt's son **Question:** Suresh's father is Rajan. Rajan's sister is Priya. Priya's son is Arun. How is Arun related to Suresh? **Working:** Priya is Suresh's paternal aunt. Arun is her son and is in Suresh's generation. **Answer: Cousin.**
### Example 4 – Grandmother **Question:** Meena's daughter is Kavya. Kavya's son is Arav. How is Meena related to Arav? **Working:** Meena → daughter Kavya → son Arav. Meena is the mother of Arav's mother. **Answer: Maternal grandmother.**
### Example 5 – Father's brother **Question:** Arun is male. His brother Bala has a daughter, Deepa. How is Arun related to Deepa? **Working:** Bala is Deepa's father. Arun is Bala's brother. Therefore Arun is Deepa's father's brother. The question does not give ages, so it cannot distinguish younger and elder paternal uncles in Tamil. **Answer: Paternal uncle (father's brother).**
## 5. Common mistakes Do not assume the gender of an unspecified person. Pay attention to 'only son' and 'only daughter'. Do not guess whether a father's brother is older or younger without ages. Always answer in the direction asked: 'How is A related to B?' is not interchangeable with 'How is B related to A?'.
## 6. Book and PYQ verification Official syllabus: TNPSC Group IV Code 496, Reasoning – Logical Reasoning/Puzzles. The complete, relevant original Samacheer Kalvi Classes 6–10 book-back exercise mapping for family-relation puzzles is **source not yet verified**. Today's five examples are **original instructional models**, not textbook questions or authenticated TNPSC PYQs. Newly verified book-back completions: 0; final-key-verified Group IV PYQs: 0.
## 7. Spaced revision +1 day 5 Nov; +3 days 7 Nov; +7 days 11 Nov; +14 days 18 Nov 2026. Also review yesterday's alphanumeric reasoning lesson.
