Countries, nationalities and adjectives
Je suis française.
Je suis française. Je viens de France.
I’m French. I come from France.
Countries, nationalities and adjectives. French is spoken is many countries all over the world. How do you talk about countries and their people in French? How are the countries pronounced?
Knowing what gender a country or a place is not easy, and not consistent. However, here is a guideline I hope you find helpful.
- Almost all countries and states that end with an –e (except for le Mexique) are feminine.
- Pretty much all others are masculine.
- These 2 previous rules do NOT apply for islands. Nope! Islands pretty much move the beat of their own drummer.
- Cities are tricky. You hear both masculine and feminine: “le nouveau Paris” (m), and “Paris est une belle ville” (f).
And here is a list of countries
Here is a list of countries, their gender, how to say the nationality and their corresponding adjectives.
|
Country Pays |
Country gender |
Pays Country |
Nationalité Nationality |
Adjectif Adjective |
|
Algeria |
f |
Algérie |
Algérien/ne |
algérien/ne |
|
Argentina |
f |
Argentine |
Argentin/e |
argentin/e |
|
Australia |
f |
Australie |
Australien/ne |
australien/ne |
|
Austria |
f |
Autriche |
Autrichien/ne |
autrichien/ne |
|
Belgium |
f |
Belgique |
Belge |
belge |
|
Benin |
m |
Bénin |
Béninois/e |
béninois/e |
|
Brazil |
m |
Brésil |
Brésilien/ne |
brésilien/ne |
|
Burkina Faso |
m |
Burkina Faso |
Burkinabé |
burkinabé |
|
Burundi |
m |
Burundi |
Burundais/e |
burundais/e |
|
Cambodia |
m |
Cambodge |
Cambodgien/ne |
cambodgien/ne |
|
Cameroun |
m |
Cameroun |
Camerounais/e |
camerounais/e |
|
Canada |
m |
Canada |
Canadien/ne |
canadien/ne |
|
Central African Republic |
f |
République Centrafricaine |
Centrafricain/e |
centrafricain/e |
|
Chad |
m |
Tchad |
Tchadien/ne |
tchadien/ne |
|
Chile |
m |
Chili |
Chilien/ne |
chilien/ne |
|
China |
f |
Chine |
Chinois/e |
chinois/e |
|
Colombia |
f |
Colombie |
Colombien/ne |
colombien/ne |
|
Comoros (Union of) |
fp |
Comores (Union des) |
Comorien/ne |
comorien/ne |
|
Costa Rica |
m |
Costa Rica |
Costaricain/e |
costaricain/e |
|
Croatia |
f |
Croatie |
Croate |
croate |
.
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| 19 comments - (Comments closed) |
bonjour, merci x 🙂
merci beaucoup madame.
What about Seychelles? Will you explain the gender of islands?
Les Seychelles are plural – LES – because it’s an archipelago. As for other islands, it’s hard to find a rule. Most of them are feminine, archipelagos are plural and some don’t even have a gender. Take a look here. My take on it is that you have to memorize them. 🙁 Merci Amy.
Dear Anne,
Please, add Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Me and my family live in Latvia.
Sometimes Latvia is called “a small Paris”!
what about African countries?
Yes, I believe all of the French-speaking African countries – and more – are in the Premium worksheet. Merci Maame Afua.
Salut Anne!
Please, make mp3 for nationalities and countries.
I will try to do it soon. Please remind me after the holidays if I haven’t done it yet. Merci Laura.
merci bcp
y isnt Mauritania there n add it plz
This is a short list. Mauritania is in the long list here [https://frenchetc.org/2009/09/19/countriesnationalitiesadjectives/]. Merci nnn.
Please kindly Email me the 54 African Countries and their nationalities in French.
Salut Mme.
Écrive l’Iran nationalité (masculin et féminin) s’il vous plaît
Un Iranien, une Iranienne. Voilà Keyvan
For a Frenh project I need to describe places I want to go to. For Santorini, I can’t find any translations or whether it is feminine or masculine. Please respond if you know the answers! Thank you!
Yay, super question, Helen.
I posted the answer directly on FrenchHour. as FE isn’t letting me post it here. It says I’m duplicating my response. Go figure. That’s one reason I’m phasing out of FE and working on FH these days.
I hope this helps.
Pls email me the 54 African countries in French language and their nationality. Thks
Bonjour Ander, The African countries are in the Premium area you can access as a Premium member. I hope to see you there.