eng5-V2· Vocabulary· ~13 min

Countries & Nationalities

Words for countries, nationalities and languages.

This lesson teaches the names of 11 countries and their nationalities. You will learn how to change a country word into a nationality word — for example, France becomes French, and Japan becomes Japanese. You will also practice using these words in short sentences to talk about where people are from and what languages they speak.

Key terms

nationality — the word that tells us what country a person is from (for example: Turkish, Spanish, Chinese)
country — a place with its own government, people, and land (for example: Turkey, France, Japan)
capital letter — the big letter that starts a word; in English, we ALWAYS start country and nationality words with a capital letter
-ese ending — a word ending used for some nationalities like Chinese, Japanese
-ish ending — a word ending used for nationalities like English, Spanish, Turkish
language — the words people use to speak and write; the language name is often the same word as the nationality (English, Russian, German)
Country → Nationality Quick Guide
CountryNationality
AzerbaijanAzerbaijani
TurkeyTurkish
EnglandEnglish
FranceFrench
GermanyGerman
ItalyItalian
SpainSpanish
RussiaRussian
ChinaChinese
JapanJapanese
AmericaAmerican

Learn these 11 country-nationality pairs. Notice the different endings: -i, -ish, -ch, -an, -ian, -ese, -an.

✎How to Change a Country into a Nationality — 3 Patterns
  1. 1Pattern 1: -an / -ian: You add -an or -ian to the country name. Russia → Russian. Italy → Italian. America → American. Germany → German.
  2. 2Pattern 2: -ese: For some Asian countries, you add -ese. China → Chinese. Japan → Japanese.
  3. 3Pattern 3: -ish / -ch: Some nationalities end in -ish or -ch. England → English. Spain → Spanish. Turkey → Turkish. France → French.
🚫Common mistake

Don't write 'I am from English.' English is a nationality, not a country. Say 'I am from England.' or 'I am English.'

⚠️Caution

Some nationality spellings are tricky. 'Italian' has one T and one L. 'Spanish' starts with 'Span-', not 'Spain-'. Check your spelling!

💡Note

When someone asks 'Where are you from?' you can answer in two ways: 'I am from France.' (country) or 'I am French.' (nationality). Both are correct.

Rules

  1. 1Most country → nationality patterns follow simple rules: add -an (Azerbaijan → Azerbaijani, Russia → Russian), add -ese (China → Chinese, Japan → Japanese), or add -ish (England → English, Spain → Spanish).
  2. 2Some nationalities use special endings: -ch (France → French), -an (Germany → German), -ian (Italy → Italian).
  3. 3You can also use these nationality words as adjectives: 'English tea', 'Japanese food', 'Russian music'.
  4. 4The word for the language is often the same as the nationality word: 'He speaks English.' / 'She is English.'
  5. 5Always use a capital letter — country names and nationality words start with a capital letter in English.
  6. 6Be careful with spelling: 'Italian' has one T and one L (not two). 'American' starts with 'Ameri-'. Do not write 'Englend' — the country is England, the nationality is English.

Practice

10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard

10 random questions per test

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