Il pensait que Camela était sa fille

Does “ma femme” mean my woman or my wife?

French uses one word where English uses two, and it does it twice. Une femme is a woman; ma femme is my wife. Une fille is a girl; ma fille is my daughter. The possessive normally settles which reading you get, which is why a man introducing a much younger companion as ma femme can genuinely surprise someone who had assumed ma fille.

French does have unambiguous options when a speaker wants them. Mon épouse and mon époux are the formal words for a spouse, mon mari is “my husband,” and une jeune fille narrows fille to a young woman rather than a child. In practice, though, ma femme is the standard, entirely neutral way to say “my wife.”