Yes, you are indeed correct. Verdana is it's own font family - whereas Verdana Condensed, or Verdana Bold are children of that font family. In other words, varriations in the stroke or spacing of the characters, but the characters retain the same basic shape and style.
There are two basic families of fonts, however - Serif and Sans Serif (or simlpy Sans) which Verdana must fit into. Serif fonts are characterized by frilly "tails" on the stokes of the letters, which lead the eye from one character to the next. Almost like cursive writing, but not connected. Sans serif fonts are characterized simply by the abscense of this serif (as the name implies). The font that you are reading this message in, is a sans serif font.
Finch.