Names of countries and nationalities in English. English speaking countries

Hello, dear friends! As you remember back in school, in order to develop communication skills and eloquence, we were forced to write various essays, including about different countries. The same is true with English, in order to develop speaking skills, you need to practice talking about countries, and each country has its own language of communication. Therefore, our fifth audio lesson is devoted to the topic “Languages ​​and countries”.

Each country has its own unique flavor, its own traditions, culture and history. And even if some countries use the same languages, they still have their own characteristics and dialects. Even within the same state, in different regions, the same language can differ significantly in sound. A striking example of this is English in the UK. It sounds different in all four regions.

Listen also to the second audio lesson of the course Family in English, so that you can talk about your loved ones while traveling to different cities and countries. And when going to any state, you need to have at least minimal information about it. Therefore, before traveling, learn the fifth audio lesson, which covers key expressions about different countries and languages: /wp-content/uploads/2014/07/RUEN005.mp3 Listen to the audio English lesson for beginners several times to maximize your listening comprehension of English easy. Then practice your own pronunciation, relying on an audio recording voiced by a native speaker.

Travel the world with English!

After you listen to the audio recording several times, try to learn the key expressions by following the text. Graphic representation of information makes it easier to remember. You can even write each phrase in a general notebook on a separate piece of paper and fill the entire page, rewriting each expression many times. This way you will also connect motor memory.

Now, knowing where and what language is spoken, and in what part of the world this or that country is located, you can go travel around the world with English.

I wish you a pleasant and fun trip! Bye!

One of the very first and easiest for beginners, as it allows you to practice the verb to be. Despite the ease, many make mistakes in using countries and nationalities. How to avoid them? We will consider below using tables what rules govern the use of geographical names and their derivatives.

How are countries and nationalities formed in English?

So let's start from the beginning. Countries and nationalities in English are formed using the endings of adjectives. What are these endings? Consider below:

• -ish - Poland - Polish (Poland - Polish);
• -ian - Hungary - Hungarian (Hungary - Hungarian);
• -ese - China - Chinese (China - Chinese);
• -an - Korea - Korean (Korea - Korean);
• -i - Pakistan - Pakistani (Pakistan - Pakistani);
• endings that are used to form one nationality must be remembered, since they are exceptions, for example France - French (France - French).

What prepositions should be used with geographical names?

The prepositions to, in and from are used with country names. This is one of the difficult topics for beginners, which is studied as part of the “Countries and Nationalities” program. In English, as in Russian, the use of a preposition depends on what the speaker wants to say.

• To is a preposition of direction, translated as in, in, to.
• From - preposition of direction, translated as from, from.
• In - the preposition shows that the speaker is in this country, or something is happening in it.

These prepositions can be used in all tenses and in all types of sentences. Examples with translation are given below.

So, let's look at countries and nationalities in English. A table of the use of prepositions with geographical names is presented to your attention.

How are the names of countries and nationalities used grammatically?

When learning English, many students make serious mistakes in conversation. They can be avoided if you follow the grammatical rules:

• The names of not only countries, but also nationalities and adjectives denoting something national are always written with a capital letter.
• When describing an object or language, an adjective is used to denote nationality; if it does not coincide with the adjective, you must use the word corresponding to it and in no case replace it with the name of the country.

• When designating a people, you need to use Russian - the Russians (Russian - Russians), American - the Americans (American - Americans).
• If the nationality adjective ends in -i, -ese, -ss, -ch, -sh, then the ending -s is not added to it - the Iraqi (Iraqis), the Japanese (Japanese), the Swiss (Swiss), the French (French), the Scottish (Scots).
• Using an adjective denoting nationality without the article the is possible if you add the word people to it: Italian people, Chinese people, Brazilian people, Arab people.

Table of countries and nationalities with translation

The table of countries and nationalities in English represents the most and nationalities that are encountered in the study. What makes it special? For some countries, nationality and adjective are the same, so one word is written in the corresponding column. If nationality is indicated by another word, it is written in the same column.

Exercises to consolidate material with keys

We looked at countries and nationalities in English. The table above contains the minimum number of countries that foreign language learners should know. Using it and the rules of use, do exercises to consolidate the material, and then check the correctness of the answers using the keys.

This lesson is devoted to the analysis of countries and nationalities in English. From the lesson you will learn: names of countries, ways of forming nationalities from the names of countries in English.

Popular memorization questions

Examples

What's your nationality? - I'm Mexican. What is your nationality? - I'm Mexican.

Do you speak Italian? - He is from Italy. He is Italian. Do you speak Italian? - He's from Italy. He's Italian.

Suffixes for forming adjectives from the names of countries

Italy – Italy Italian – Italian Italian - Italian

As you can see, the same word, derived from the name of a country, can be used in different ways. This adjective is the name of the language of this country and the name of the nationality.

Many people study these derivative words and simply use the name of the country (Japan food, Spain singer, and so on). The name of a country cannot be an adjective, nor can it describe the nationality or language of the country, so do not make such mistakes.

Please note that the name of the nationality and the language of the country do not always coincide. For example, in Brazil Brazil, although Brazilians live, they speak Portuguese Portugese. Also with Arab countries, where the nationality of the country does not coincide with the language.

Suffix -ian

Adjectives are formed using this suffix, regardless of what letter the name of the country ends with and where it is located. If the country name ends in -ia, then only -n is added:

Argentina Argentinian

Egypt Egyptian

Norway Norwegian

Ukraine Ukrainian

Brazil Brazilian

Russia Russian

Australia Australian

Indonesia Indonesian

Suffix -an

If the name of the country ends in -a, then only -n is added, if the name ends in another vowel, then -an is added:

Korea Korean

Venezuela Venezuelan

Chile Chilean

Mexico Mexican

Suffix -ese

This suffix is ​​mainly used with Asian countries, some African countries, European countries and South America:

China Chinese

Vietnam Vietnamese

Japan Japanese

Lebanon Lebanese

Sudan Sudanese

Taiwan Taiwanese

Portugal Portuguese

Suffix -ish

Some adjectives are formed using the suffix -ish:

Britain British

Scotland Scottish

Ireland Irish

Wales Welsh

Poland Polish

Turkey Turkish

Suffix -i

Almost all countries that are combined with this suffix are Islamic countries, or countries where Arabic is spoken.

Iraq Iraqi

Pakistan Pakistani

Thailand Thai

Kuwait Kuwaiti

Other suffixes

Other suffixes can also be called exceptions, since some of them are singular and are used to form one nationality.

France French

Greece Greek

Switzerland Swiss

The Netherlands Dutch

As mentioned earlier, many adjectives that can be formed using suffixes serve as names for languages ​​spoken in a particular country. In addition, these adjectives, when combined with nouns, describe something characteristic of that country:

French literature French literature

Japanese food Japanese food

Mexican traditions Mexican traditions

Egyptian culture Egyptian history

How to talk about nationalities in general in English?

1. The + ADJECTIVE

From the article about definite articles in English, you know that the article the can be combined with adjectives when the adjective denotes a group of people:

The Chinese are very traditional. The Chinese are very traditional.

The Americans like fast food. Americans love fast food.

Have you noticed that in the given examples the word Americans is used with the ending -s, while Сhinese is used without the ending? There are a few rules to remember about this:

1. If nationality-adjectives have endings –sh, –ch, –ss, –ese, -i then they do not have a plural form (no -s is added to them):

• the French - the French
• the Swiss - the Swiss
• the Japanese - the Japanese
• the Scottish - the Scots
• the Iraqi - Iraqis
• the Israelis - the Israelis

2. Adjectives ending in -an and some others have plural forms. These adjectives (unlike the above) can also act as nouns:

• the Ukrainians - Ukrainians
• the Brazilians - Brazilians
• the Greeks - the Greeks
• the Thais - residents of Thailand
Scotland - Scots

Spain – the Spaniards Spain - Spaniards

Turkey – the Turks Türkiye – the Turks

If you are talking about one person, then if this nationality has a noun, you can use it:

• an American - American
• an Italian - Italian
• a Pole - Pole
• a Turk - Turk
• a Spaniard - Spaniard
• a Briton - British
• a Swede - Swede

If there is no noun, or you want to clarify the gender of the person, then use the diagram: ADJECTIVE + MAN/ WOMAN/ BOY/ GIRL

• an English boy
• a Chinese woman
• a French man (can be written together: a Frenchman)
• an English man (can be written together: an Englishman)

There is a term in English demonym(from Greek demos- people and onym- Name). This term is intended to describe the people living in a certain area. These are the names of nationalities, ethnic groups, residents of a particular area or a particular city. All the above adjectives and nouns derived from the names of countries are demonyms. Demonyms are formed mainly by suffixation:

London – Londoner London - Londoner

Kiev – Kiev Kyiv - resident of Kyiv

Rome – Roman Rome - resident of Rome

As you can see, the topic “Countries and Nationalities in English” is not so difficult if you consider this issue carefully.

Everyone knows that English is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world. It is spoken by more than 430 million people in the world. Many people call it the language of politics and business, because in most countries it is official.

Today, every fifth person in our country speaks English at a minimum level, because it is recognized as international. It is studied in different countries of the world.

It became international due to its high demand.

List of countries where English is used for communication

In which countries of the world is English recognized as the national language?