Nationalities in Spanish

Subjects | Spanish Notes | Spanish Grammar

Introduction

⇒ Nationalities in Spanish are often talked about using nationality adjectives, which are adjectives that describe the country a person or thing is from.

⇒ Most nationality adjectives in Spanish have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural, though some just have two forms (singular and plural).

⇒ Take a look at the different forms the adjective francés (French) can take.

Juan es un chico francés.
Juan is a French boy.
Anita es una chica francesa.
Anita is a French girl.
Juan y Bruno son alumnos franceses.
Juan and Bruno are French students.
Anita y Celia son alumnas francesas.
Anita and Celia are French students.

⇒ While the endings may look a bit confusing at first, the rules for forming nationality adjectives are actually pretty straightforward.

⇒ Unlike in English, nationalities in Spanish are not capitalized.

Nationalities that End in a Vowel

Nationalities that End in an o

⇒ Nationalities that end in an o have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.

⇒ Here are some quick rules for the changes you'll need to make to the masculine singular form in order to make the feminine singular and plural forms.

⇒ To make the singular feminine form: change the o in the masculine singular form to an a

⇒ To make the masculine plural form: add an s to the end of the masculine singular form

⇒ To make the feminine plural form: add an s to the end of the feminine singular form

Mi abuelo es mexicano
My grandfather is Mexican.
Mi abuela es mexicana.
My grandmother is Mexican.
Mis abuelos son mexicanos.
My grandfathers are Mexican.
Mis abuelas son mexicanas.
My grandmothers are Mexican.

Nationalities that End in an e or an Accented Vowel

⇒ Nationalities that end in an e or an accented vowel have only two forms.

⇒ This is because the masculine and feminine singular forms of these adjectives are the same.

⇒ Here are the rules for making the singular forms of these adjectives plural:

  • For adjectives that end in e or é: add an s to end of the singular form to make the plural form
  • For adjectives that end in an accented vowel other than é: add an -es to the singular form to make the plural form
Melissa es costarricense.
Melissa is Costa Rican.
Ellos son costarricenses.
They are Costa Rican.
Samuel es iraquí.
Samuel is Iraqi.
Los chicos son iraquíes.
The boys are Iraqi.

List of Common Nationalities that End in a Vowel

English Translation Masculine Singular Form Masculine Plural Form Feminine Singular Form Feminine Plural Form
American americano americanos americana americanas
Argentinean argentino argentinos argentina argentinas
Bolivian boliviano bolivianos boliviana bolivianas
Canadian canadiense canadienses canadiense canadienses
Costa Rican costarricense costarricenses costarricense costarricenses
Cuban cubano cubanos cubana cubanas
Honduran hondureño hondureños hondureña hondureñas
Iraqi iraquí iraquíes iraquí iraquíes
Italian italiano italianos italiana italianas
Mexican mexicano mexicanos mexicana mexicanas
Moroccan marroquí marroquíes marroquí marroquíes
Nicaraguan nicaragüense nicaragüenses nicaragüense nicaragüenses
Uruguayan uruguayo uruguayos uruguaya uruguayas

Nationalities that End in a Consonant

⇒ Nationalities that end in a consonant have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.

⇒ To make the feminine singular form:

  • add an a to the end of the masculine singular form
  • remove the written accent over the vowel if there is one
El maestro es alemán.
The teacher is German.
La maestra es alemana.
The teacher is German.
El escritor es japonés.
The writer is Japanese.
La escritora es japonesa.
The writer is Japanese.
El cantante es español.
The singer is Spanish.
La cantante es española.
The singer is Spanish.

⇒ To make the masculine plural form:

  • add -es to the masculine singular form
  • remove the written accent over the vowel if there is one

⇒ To make the feminine plural form:

  • add s to the feminine singular form
El maestro danés.
The teacher is Danish.
Los maestros son daneses.
The teachers are Danish.
Las maestras son danesas.
The teachers are Danish.
El cantante es español.
The singer is Spanish.
Los cantantes son españoles.
The singers are Spanish.
Las cantantes son españolas.
The singers are Spanish.

List of Common Nationalities that End in a Consonant

English Translation Masculine Singular Form Masculine Plural Form Feminine Singular Form Feminine Plural Form
Danish danés daneses danesa danesas
Finnish finlandés finlandeses finlandesa finlandesas
French francés franceses francesa francesas
German alemán alemanes alemana alemanas
Irish irlandés irlandeses irlandesa irlandesas
Japanese japonés japoneses japonesa japonesas
Lebanese libanés libaneses libanesa libanesas
Spanish español españoles española españolas
Thai tailandés tailandeses tailandesa tailandesas