Nationalities in Spanish

Quick Answer

Nationalities in Spanish are often talked about using nationality adjectives, which are adjectives that describe the country a person or thing is from.

Most nationality adjectives in Spanish have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural, though some just have two forms (singular and plural).

Take a look at the different forms the adjective francés (French) can take.

examples
Juan es un chico francés. Juan is a French boy.
Anita es una chica francesa. Anita is a French girl.
Juan y Bruno son alumnos franceses. Juan and Bruno are French students.
Anita y Celia son alumnas francesas. Anita and Celia are French students.

While the endings may look a bit confusing at first, the rules for forming nationality adjectives are actually pretty straightforward.

Unlike in English, nationalities in Spanish are not capitalized.

Nationalities that End in a Vowel

Nationalities that End in an o

Nationalities that end in an o have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.

Here are some quick rules for the changes you'll need to make to the masculine singular form in order to make the feminine singular and plural forms.

To make the singular feminine form:

change the o in the masculine singular form to an a

To make the masculine plural form:

Add an s to the end of the masculine singular form

To make the feminine plural form:

Add an s to the end of the feminine singular form

examples
Mi abuelo es mexicano. My grandfather is Mexican.
Mi abuela es mexicana. My grandmother is Mexican.
Mis abuelos son mexicanos. My grandfathers are Mexican.
Mis abuelas son mexicanas. My grandmothers are Mexican.

Nationalities that End in an e or an Accented Vowel

Nationalities that end in an e or an accented vowel have only two forms. This is because the masculine and feminine singular forms of these adjectives are the same. Here are the rules for making the singular forms of these adjectives plural.

For adjectives that end in e or é:

add an s to end of the singular form to make the plural form

For adjectives that end in an accented vowel other than é:

add an -es to the singular form to make the plural form

examples
Melissa es costarricense. Melissa is Costa Rican.
Ellos son costarricenses. They are Costa Rican.
Samuel es iraquí. Samuel is Iraqi.
Los chicos son iraquíes. The boys are Iraqi.

List of Common Nationalities that End in a Vowel

Here you'll find a handy list of common nationalities that end in a vowel.

English Translation	Masculine Singular Form	Masculine Plural Form	Feminine Singular Form	Feminine Plural Form
American	americano	americanos	americana	americanas
Argentinean	argentino	argentinos	argentina	argentinas
Bolivian	boliviano	bolivianos	boliviana	bolivianas
Canadian	canadiense	canadienses	canadiense	canadienses
Costa Rican	costarricense	costarricenses	costarricense	costarricenses
Cuban	cubano	cubanos	cubana	cubanas
Honduran	hondureño	hondureños	hondureña	hondureñas
Iraqi	iraquí	iraquíes	iraquí	iraquíes
Italian	italiano	italianos	italiana	italianas
Mexican	mexicano	mexicanos	mexicana	mexicanas
Moroccan	marroquí	marroquíes	marroquí	marroquíes
Nicaraguan	nicaragüense	nicaragüenses	nicaragüense	nicaragüenses
Uruguayan	uruguayo	uruguayos	uruguaya	uruguayas

In English, American may refer to people from North, Central, and South America, though it's most commonly used to refer to someone from the United States. In Spanish, it's more common for the word americano to be used to refer to anything or anyone from North, Central, or South America. If you want to make it very clear that you're talking about someone or something from the United States, use the nationality adjective estadounidense.

Nationalities that End in a Consonant

Nationalities that end in a consonant have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.

To make the feminine singular form:

add an a to the end of the masculine singular form
remove the written accent over the vowel if there is one

examples
El maestro es alemán. The teacher is German.
La maestra es alemana. The teacher is German.
El escritor es japonés. The writer is Japanese.
La escritora es japonesa. The writer is Japanese.
El cantante es español. The singer is Spanish.
La cantante es española. The singer is Spanish.

To make the masculine plural form:

add -es to the masculine singular form
remove the written accent over the vowel if there is one

To make the feminine plural form:

add s to the feminine singular form

examples
El maestro es danés. The teacher is Danish.
Los maestros son daneses. The teachers are Danish.
Las maestras son danesas. The teachers are Danish.
El cantante es español. The singer is Spanish.
Los cantantes son españoles. The singers are Spanish.
Las cantantes son españolas. The singers are Spanish.

List of Common Nationalities that End in a Consonant

Here you'll find a handy list of common nationalities that end in a consonant.

English Translation	Masculine Singular Form	Masculine Plural Form	Feminine Singular Form	Feminine Plural Form
Danish	danés	daneses	danesa	danesas
Finnish	finlandés	finlandeses	finlandesa	finlandesas
French	francés	franceses	francesa	francesas
German	alemán	alemanes	alemana	alemanas
Irish	irlandés	irlandeses	irlandesa	irlandesas
Japanese	japonés	japoneses	japonesa	japonesas
Lebanese	libanés	libaneses	libanesa	libanesas
Spanish	español	españoles	española	españolas
Thai	tailandés	tailandeses	tailandesa	tailandesas