French Words for Nationalities

How nationalities work in French

In French, nationalities are mostly adjectives, so they agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the person they describe. You can also use them as nouns for people: un Américain, une Américaine.

• Il est canadien. (He is Canadian.)
• Elle est canadienne. (She is Canadian.)
• Ils sont canadiens. (They are Canadian.)

The word for “nationality” itself is la nationalité, which is a feminine noun.

List of nationalities

Here are common nationalities with their country names, masculine and feminine forms.

Note that in the list above Spanish is espagnol when describing a person or thing, which is also the name of the language (l’espagnol).

Rules for forming the feminine

Most nationalities follow predictable patterns:

Exceptions are rare but real, so check any unusual nationality in a dictionary. Pronunciation also changes: in canadien, the final consonant is silent and the vowel is nasal, but in canadienne you pronounce the n sound clearly. Hearing the difference helps you recognize gender in speech.

Plural forms

For the plural, add -s to the singular unless it already ends in -s or -x:

• américain → américains, américaine → américaines
• français → français (no change in the masculine), française → françaises
• chinois → chinois, chinoise → chinoises
• belge → belges

Examples:

• Mes amis sont allemands. (My friends are German.)
• Les étudiantes sont japonaises. (The female students are Japanese.)

If a group includes both men and women, French uses the masculine plural: Ils sont italiens.

Capital letters: adjective vs noun

French does not capitalize nationality adjectives, but it does capitalize nationality nouns referring to people:

• Il est français. (adjective, lowercase) (He is French.)
• C’est un Français. (noun, capital F) (He is a Frenchman.)
• Les Italiens adorent le football. (noun, capital I) (Italians love football.)

The names of languages are also lowercase: le français, l’anglais, l’italien. Our guide on how to improve your French writing covers more capitalization differences from English.

How to say where you are from

There are two common patterns.

Using être plus the nationality adjective:

• Je suis français. / Je suis française. (I am French.)
• Nous sommes brésiliens. (We are Brazilian.)

Because être is an irregular verb, you may like to review its forms in our guide to irregular verbs in French.

Using venir de plus the country:

• Je viens de France. (I am from France.) For feminine countries or those starting with a vowel, use de or d’.
• Elle vient du Canada. (She is from Canada.) For masculine countries, use du.
• Ils viennent des États-Unis. (They are from the United States.) For plural countries, use des.
• Il vient d’Italie. (He is from Italy.)

To say you live in a country, use en with feminine countries (en France, en Espagne), au with masculine countries (au Canada, au Japon) and aux with plural ones (aux États-Unis).

Asking and answering about nationality

• Quelle est votre nationalité ? (What is your nationality?) This sounds quite formal, as on a form.
• De quelle nationalité êtes-vous ? (What nationality are you?)
• D’où venez-vous ? / D’où viens-tu ? (Where are you from?)
• Tu es d’où ? (Where are you from? informal)

Possible answers:

• Je suis américain, mais je vis à Lyon. (I am American, but I live in Lyon.)
• Ma nationalité est italienne. (My nationality is Italian.)
• Je viens du Mexique. (I come from Mexico.)

These questions are staples of beginner conversation. For more ideas on what to talk about once you have introduced yourself, see our list of interesting French topics to explore.

What do you call someone from France?

A person from France is un Français (man) or une Française (woman). As an adjective: français or française.

French people call their country la France. You will also occasionally hear l’Hexagone (“the Hexagon”), a nickname based on the country’s shape on a map, used especially to refer to mainland France.

Regional identities are also common, for example un Québécois / une Québécoise (from Quebec), un Breton / une Bretonne (from Brittany) and un Parisien / une Parisienne (from Paris).

Practice tips

• Make a flashcard for each country with its article, because the article tells you gender: la Belgique, le Maroc, les Pays-Bas. Our review of the best French Anki deck can help you set up spaced-repetition cards.
• Practice with real people: describe friends, famous people or characters in a film, such as Elle est espagnole, il est portugais.
• Group nationalities by ending pattern, then test yourself on the feminine form.
• Use them in introductions, a common starting point for work as well as travel. If you plan to use French professionally, see learning French for business.