Miriam
German hack no. 1: Talking about countries and nationalities - Sind Pommes Franzosen?
I decided to make a series of posts about common mistakes learners make when studying German. You’ll find all posts in the German italki forum but also collected in a Google document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w_gLBgeah4n0P_eWKEbeiHwYXbpG0Ux3aFTbid7WByQ/edit?usp=sharing.
Today I read a post by a German learner about French fries. He was mentioning that today is the Day of French Fries (Tag der Pommes) and he wrote something along the lines “Heute ist der Tag der Pommes (Sie sind keine Franzosen).” He provided his original English sentence: “They are not French.” Now this is interesting, as “Franzose” can only be used for people but not objects. So, a “Franzose” is a “French person”. I often see this mistake the other way round as well. Someone would like to say that they’re language partner is from Spain and they might say: “Er ist spanisch.” But in this case, the learner used the adjective, while the correct noun for a person would be “Spanier”.
The correct sentences would be:
Pommes sind nicht französisch. (French fries aren't French.)
Mein Sprachpartner ist Spanier. (My language partner is a Spaniard.)
Is there a one fits all rule to construct the noun for a nationality of a person out of the name of the country? Unfortunately, no. See these examples:
England, der Engländer; Island, der Isländer, aber: Lettland, der Lette; Deutschland, der Deutsche; Irland; der Ire
Best is to just learn the names of countries and nationalities together, when you need them. Here you can find an extensive list: <a href="https://deutsch.lingolia.com/de/wortschatz/laender-nationalitaeten" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">https://deutsch.lingolia.com/de/wortschatz/laender-nationalitaeten</a>;. It also shows if two versions are possible, e.g. Swasiland, der Swasi or der Swasiländer. Wait, forget about “der Swasiländer” as the country was renamed Eswatini in 2018, so it wouldn’t constantly get mixed up with Switzerland in English. So, the correct term of the citizens of Eswatini is “der/die Swasi” in German.
What you’ll also find in the list, is information if the country names are masculine, feminine, neuter or plural. Most countries are neuter and don’t require an article (unless they’re used with an article) but masculine, feminine and plural countries have to be used with article:
(das schöne) Deutschland. Ich komme aus Deutschland. Ich fahre nach Deutschland. Ich lebe in Deutschland.
der (schöne) Libanon. Ich komme aus dem Libanon. Ich fahre in den Libanon. Ich lebe im Libanon.
die (schöne) Türkei. Ich komme aus der Türkei. Ich fahre in die Türkei. Ich lebe in der Türkei.
die (schönen) Niederlande. Ich komme aus den Niederlanden. Ich fahre in die Niederlande. Ich lebe in den Niederlanden.
Was this helpful? Post your questions and comments below or try to form sentences in German using names of countries and nationalities and I'll correct them for you.
Jul 13, 2020 3:33 PM
Miriam
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), Finnish, French, German
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), Finnish
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