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
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(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
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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
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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
Word Order of Adjectives before a Noun
| General | Size | |||||
| Description | Shape | |||||
| Opinion | Condition | Age | ||||
| Temperature | Colour | Origin | Modifier | Type | NOUN | |
| fine | round | white | English | maple | writing | table |
Noun modifiers
| material | operation | power | Place/purpose | NOUN |
| steel | automatic | electric | lawn | table |
NOTE: 1. Although a long string of modifiers is possible, one will rarely use more than four or five before one noun.
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2. When there are two adjectives in front of a noun commas are used to separate those which are equally important (i.e. when the order of the first two could easily be reverse); a comma is put after the quality adjective: The porter led me to a beautiful, bright clean room. Joy is engaged to a daring, very attractive young Air Force pilot.
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