Adjectives referring to Countries, Nationalities and Languages

Adjectives referring to countries and languages:

• With –ish: Spanish, Polish, Danish, Turkish

• With –(i)an: Canadian, Brazilian, Korean, Mexican

• With –ese: Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese

• With –i: Israeli, Iraqi, Kuwaiti, Pakistani,

• With –ic: Arabic, Icelandic

Some adjectives are worth learning separately: Swiss, Greek, Thai, Dutch.

Nationalities

For most nationalities we can use the adjective as a noun: a Canadian, a German, an African.

The plural expression the… is used for the population as a whole: the Japanese, the French.

Some nationalities have nouns for referring to people: a Spaniard, a Filipino, a Turk, a Swede, a Dane, a Briton, an Arab.

A few adjectives of nationality ending in –sh or –ch are used after the without nouns. They include Welsh, English, British, Spanish, Dutch, French Irish,. (The Irish are very proud of their sense of humour.) These expressions are plural, singular examples are: an Irishman, a Welshman.

Country / region adjective person population

America (the USA) American an American the Americans

Belgium Belgian an Belgian the Belgians

Europe European a European the Europeans

Norway Norwegian a Norwegian the Norwegians

Greece Greek a Greek the Greeks

Ukraine Ukrainian a Ukrainian the Ukrainians

Exceptions

Britain British a British person the British

(a Briton)

England English an Englishman the English

(an Englishwoman)

France French a Frenchman the French

(a Frenchwoman)

Ireland Irish an Irishman the Irish

(an Irishwoman)

Spain Spanish a Spaniard the Spanish

The Netherlands / Holland Dutch a Dutchman the Dutch

Wales Welsh a Welshman the Welsh

(a Welshwoman)

Denmark Danish a Dane the Danes

Finland Finnish a Finn the Finns

Poland Polish a Pole the Poles

Scotland Scottish / Scotch a Scot the Scots

Sweden Swedish a Swede the Swedes

Turkey Turkish a Turk the Turks

NOTE:

• The Scots prefer the adjective Scottish, but other people often use Scotch;

• The word Briton is unusual except in newspaper headlines. Brit is sometimes used informally. But most British people call themselves Scottish, Welsh, Irish, or English.

• Arabic is used for the language spoken in Arab countries; in other cases, the normal adjective is Arab. Arabian is used in a few fixed expressions: Saudi Arabian, the Arabian Sea.

Compound Adjectives

Good-natured over-polite pitch-dark

Nearsighted dark-blue iron-grey

Air-conditioned first-class long-distance so-called

Bulletproof handmade longstanding sugar free

Drip-dry interest-free off-peak time-consuming

Duty-free last-minute part-time top-secret

Compound Adjectives describing personal appearance

Curly-haired broad-shouldered

Blue-eyed left-handed

Rosy-cheeked slim-hipped

Thin-lipped long-legged

Suntanned flat-footed

Compound Adjectives describing a person’s character

Absent-minded (forgetful) pigheaded (stubborn)

Easy-going (relaxed) two-faced (hypocritical)

Good-natured (cheerful) self-centered (egoistical)

Warm-hearted (kind) quick-tempered

Quick-witted (intelligent) stuck-up (conceited)

Compound Adjectives with a preposition in the second part

An all-out effort (total)

A run-down area (in poor condition)

Worn-out shoes (can’t be worn any more)

A burned-out building (nothing left in it after a fire)

Built-in furniture (can’t be removed)

A built-up area (covered with buildings)

A broken-down car (it won’t work)

The prefixes: ab-, dis-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, non-, un-:

Abnormal impassive incoherent non-existent

Disagreeable imperfect incomparable non-violent

Discontented implausible incorrect unapproachable

Dishonest improper incorrigible uninteresting

Disingenuous inaccurate indecisive unattainable

Disinterested inadequate inhospitable uncertain

Disloyal inattentive inhumane unconvincing

Dissimilar inaudible infrequent undesirable

Illegal inauthentic insubstantial unfair

Illegible incapable irreconcilable unhelpful

Illogical incautious irreproachable