F minor
F minor is the minor key with F as its tonic and four flats in the key signature. Its relative key is A♭ major, which shares all its notes. Like every minor key it exists in natural, harmonic and melodic form; through the leading tone the E♭ becomes E.
Relative of A♭ major
The page Circle of Fifths lists F minor in the table of relative keys: A♭ major with four flats has F minor as its relative. The minor key begins three semitone steps below the major key and has the same key signature. You should not confuse it with the parallel key F major, which has the same tonic but only one flat: according to the page, the change to the parallel key is a much stronger emotional contrast than the change to the relative, because several notes change at once.
Natural minor
All the notes of the A♭ major scale, but played from F. This is natural minor, in church-mode terms Aeolian.
Harmonic minor
The seventh degree is raised from E♭ to E. This produces the leading tone, a semitone below F, and the dominant C becomes a major chord. In return the augmented second lies between D♭ and E.
The leading tone
The article The leading tone explains why minor has to borrow the leading tone: in natural minor the seventh degree lies a whole tone below the tonic and does not pull. If you raise it, in F minor from E♭ to E, harmonic minor arises, and the dominant C becomes a major chord. This is the same logic as in A minor, see the page A minor.
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Related terms
A♭ majorF majorRelative keyMinorAeolianHarmonic minorCircle of fifths
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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