Nationalities in French

Let’s learn nationality adjectives

To talk about nationalities, you have to know a few rules about the use of adjectives in French.

Rules about the use of nationality adjectives

1- First, note that French nationality adjectives are not capitalized.

2- English adjectives are invariable, but French adjectives can change.

Thus, you have to pay attention to number and gender.

Plural form of nationality adjectives

⇒ To get the plural form, you generally add an “s” at the end of the nationality adjective.

 Feminine form of nationality adjectives

⇒To find the feminine form of a nationality adjective, there are 4 different cases :

◊ Nationality adjectives that don’t change

Examples: belge, croate, russe, suisse…

◊ You just add an “e” at the end of some nationality adjectives

Examples: allemand/allemande, américain/américaine, anglais/anglaise, français/française

◊ You  add  “ne” at the end of some nationality adjectives

Examples: brésilien/brésilienne, canadien/canadienne, indien/indienne

◊ Special cases

Example 1: grec/grecque

Example 2: turc/turque

List of nationality adjectives

Here you can watch a video on nationality adjectives and their pronunciation in French.

Then you can find 4 lists of nationality adjectives in French written below. Pick the adjectives you need to know in these lists and learn them.

1- Nationality adjectives that don’t change in the feminine form

2- Nationality adjectives that get an “e” in the feminine form

3- Nationality adjectives that get “ne” in the feminine form

4- Special cases