This lesson is part of the Beginner Spanish Course (127 lessons)
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In this Spanish lesson we will learn all about nationalities in Spanish: how to state your nationality in Spanish and how to ask the nationality of others. In the previous lesson in this Beginner Spanish course we learned basic introductions in Spanish: greeting people in Spanish and exchanging pleasantries. This lesson continues the theme of introducing yourself in Spanish and shows you how to say where you are from and how to ask another person where they are from with ¿De dónde eres?. I will then list some English speaking nationalities for both a man and a woman. If you look below this post in the “comments” section you will see a long discussion into almost every other possible nationality in Spanish, but if your nationality is not mentioned there please feel free to ask me how to write it in Spanish. Changing the ending of the nationalities in Spanish according to whether the person being described is male or female is a tricky challenge to get your head around initially, but be patient and give this time. You will be amazed at how quickly you start automatically alterring the endings. It isn’t as difficult as it first appears.
Lesson notes
¿De dónde eres?: Where are you from? (friendly)
¿De dónde es usted? Where are you from? (formal)
Soy… : I am…
Inglés: English (man)
Inglesa: English (woman)
Escocés: Scottish (man)
Escocesa: Scottish (woman)
Galés: Welsh (man)
Galesa: Welsh (woman)
Irlandés: Irish (man)
Irlandesa: Irish (woman)
Americano: American (man)
Americana: American (woman)
Español: Spanish (man)
Española: Spanish (woman)
Soy de…: I am from…
Inglaterra: England
Escocia: Scotland
País de Gales: Wales
Irlanda: Ireland
Estados Unidos: United States
España: Spain
Activity:
Complete the gaps in this formal interview and afterwards write the same interview in a friendly way…
-Buenas tardes. Cómo ….. ………..?
-Me ………. Ana.
-De dónde ……….. usted?
-……. Inglesa.
Here are the answers to the last activity:
-Hola, buenas tardes. ¿Cómo te llamas?
-Me llamo Lola, ¿y tú?
-Me llamo Antonio ¿Cómo estás?
-Muy bien, gracias. ¿y tú?
-Bien ¡hasta luego!
-¡Adiós!
hello i have a question about this lesson .
i am from belgium and i would like to now how to say where im from :)
thank you already
bauke
Hola Bauke,
You should say "Soy belga".
Saludos,
Laura
what about "I'm from Poland."? or "I'm Polish" ?
thanks
Hola,
To say I'm Polish you would say Soy polaco or Soy polaca. To say I'm from Poland you would say Soy de Polonia.
I hope this helps!
Saludos,
Laura
Thanks ;)
i come from tanzania so wat can sat da am tanzanian and my country tanzania
another contries like ghana senegal mali and cameroon how can i say by spanish and call it plz help
Hola Said,
To say "I come from Tanzania" you would say "Soy de Tanzania" and to say "I am Tanzanian" you would say "Soy tanzano".
Ghana – Ghana/Ghanés, Senegal – Senegal/Senegalés, Mali – Malí/Maliense, Cameroon – Camerún/Camerunés.
I hope this helps and thank you for your interest in my blog.
Saludos,
Laura
Hola Laura
I would like to now how to say Slovakia, Slovakian and Macedonia, Macedonian.
Thank You
Hola Rastislav:
Slovakia is Eslovaquia. Slovakian is eslovaco y eslovaca. Macedonia is Macedonia. Macedonian is macedonio y macedonia.
Saludos,
Laura.
what about Korea and Korean???
Hola,
Korea is "Corea"
Korean is "Coreano/a"
Saludos, Laura
What will you say if you are from Bulgaria?:)
Thanks!
Hola,
Bulgaria is "Bulgaria"
Bulgarian is "Búlgaro/a"
Saludos, Laura
hola teacher.
i'm from Vietnam , i 'm Vietnamese. I would like to know how to say it. and do we need discriminate between woman and man?
Hola,
Vietnam is "Vietnam"
Vietnamese is "Vietnamita". This is the same for men and women.
Saludos,
Laura
Hola!
How to say Germany and how to say that you are German?
Gracias!
Hola,
Germany is "Alemania"
If you want to say that you are German you can say "Soy alemán" or "Soy alemana".
Saludos,
Laura
Gracias!
hola senora.
komo estas?
i am from india. so i wana know that how say india in spanish as you have not mentioned above?
rest all is fine and your blog is one of the best place for spanish learners.
gracias
mucho gusto.
saheb
Hola Saheb,
India is the same in Spanish, India or La India. If you wish to say that you are from India you can "soy de la India" and if you wish to say that you are Indian, "soy indio/india".
Saludos, Laura
si.. thank you very much mam.
i'l contact you soon if i have some more problems :)
gracias
saheb
Hola!
What about "I'm from Russia"? or "I'm Russian"?
Thank you so much for this wonderful website! I really enjoy your lessons.
Kate.
Hola Kate,
To say "I'm from Russia" you would say "Soy de Rusia" and to say "I'm Russian" you would say "Soy ruso/a".
Thank you for your kind words!
Saludos,
Laura
Hi dear , how can i say that i'm a brazilian ? it is the same for man and woman ?
I would like to say thank you , your spanish lessons are very useful .
Lau,
Yo sot Ridoy, Soy de Bangladesh. In English it is 'I am Bangladeshi', In English we are also called 'Bengalis'. How do I say that in Spanish?
Yo soy un Bangladesio?
Grascias,
Ridoy
Hola,
Thank you all for your interest in my video lesson here on Nationalities.
For "Brazilian" we say "brasileño/a" and for "Bangladeshi/Bengali" we say "bangladesí/bengalí". I hope this helps!
Saludos,
Laura
Hola Laura!
You are a very big help for me and for a lot of people, and I wanted to thank you the time and patience you put in theese videos!
I'm a student from Hungary, and I'm actually learning English, and since we can choose only one language per class in school I have to learn that, and I can't afford other language classes…
So thank you again, and can you tell me how do you say Hungary in spanish? uh, and if I'm hangarian?
Hola Laura,
How you say "Canada".
Thanks.
Hola Laura!
Me llamo Polina. Soy rusa. Many times Gracias!
¡Hola a todos!
Thank you for your very kind words here and your interest in this video lesson about "Nationalities".
In response to Islandgirl3330´s question about Canada we say, "Canadá" for "Canada" and "canadiense" for "Canadian".
I hope this helps!
Best regards, Laura
Gracias, Laura.
Hola thespanishblog, como estas? soy de Malaysian. Muchas gracias for your lesson. Very well done..
¡Hola Laura!
I am from Greece! Soy de ………, Soy ……….. . Could you please fill in the gaps for me?
Thank you for learning us spanish for free. You are a great teacher.
Stella
Hola Stella,
Soy de Grecia. Soy griego/griega.
Many thanks for your kind words!
Saludos, Laura
i am from Romania and i would like to now how to say this
thanks
Hola,
You can say "Soy de Rumania" or "Soy rumano/a".
Saludos,
Laura
komo estas laura?
i am from morocco. so i wana know that how say morocco ,and i am from morocco in spanish?
thank u.
Hola,
You can say "Soy de Marruecos" or "Soy marroquí".
Saludos,
Laura
Hola y Gracias!
Soy Irlandesa
I go to Spain alot and i am only 12
so i thought it would be good to start early
:]
Gracias
Becca
and if iam from iraq how can i say iam iraqi?
Hola,
You can say "Soy de Iraq" or "Soy iraquí".
Saludos,
Laura
thanck you very much and iwanna ask you about something?
can you give me a book's name i mean (textbook)to learn spanish because i need spanish and i have to learn it on your nice website and then with a book
please help me
Hola hass_riyadh,
De nada – you're welcome!
Regarding a textbook for your studies, I must recommend purchasing my own mp3 courses which you can buy and download from my blog and come complete with grammar/vocaulary written documents in PDF/Ebook format. As you are already following my lessons it makes sense to follow the same structure and you should find all of the information you require in my beginner and intermediate level courses so far available. The advanced course is also on the way!
I wish you all the best with your studies,
Laura
ooh o.k that's good
thank u
how to say im from sri lanka
i think soy de sri lanka
and im a sri lankan
soy sri lankiese
correct ?
Hola,
You can say "Soy de Sri Lanka" or "Soy esrilanqués".
Saludos,
Laura
mucho gracias laura
Nice video. It's very helpful to me. Thank you for your video lessons.
Soy de Taiwan. Soy taiwanesa. ^_^
hola how to say i am from guyana
You should say "Yo soy de guyana".
what about ''I'm from Viet Nam'' ??
"Soy de Vietnam" or "Soy vietnamita"
thanks a lot ^^
if i am egyptian
"Soy de Egipto" or "Soy egipcio/a"
Hola, i am from Estonia. so i wana know that how say Estonia ,and i am from Estonia in spanish?
(men and women )
Gracias.
Victooria
“Soy de Estonia” or “Soy estonio/estonia”
Hi there,
Firstly I must say that your blog and videos are amazing and easy to understand. I have a quick question that I know you’ll be able to help me with. I’ve started thinking about learning Spanish and I’m trying to get to grips with the language. I’ve been trying to get my head around the phrase: De dónde es usted – I’ve worked out that the ‘es’ comes from the verb estar and is the 3rd person singular(correct me if I’m wrong anywhere, my knowledge is so poor!). Why is the verb inverted as such here and ‘es’ comes after ‘usted’? Can you also say de dónde usted es? Or does that scream of total beginner Spanish?!
I thought that the pronoun would come before ‘es’?
Also, why is there no pronoun in the inform de dónde eres? (Maybe the fact that there is no pronoun means that it’s informal!)
I don’t just want to learn set phrases, but I like to learn the structures of the language so that I can make up my own phrases and have a freer conversation! Sorry if I’ve annoyed you in any way!
Mucho Gracias!
John
I am from Mongolia.
How you say I am from Mongolia in Spanish. and how do you say. I am Mongolian in spanish. Thank you.
Hi i am from Armenia :) i would like to now how to say where im from
Hello, thank you or these very helpful lessons. How would I say iam Fijian? And my name is Ratu Wise.
Hola Laura!
Como estas? I was wondering how to say Soy de.. (Latvia), Soy.. (latvian) for female and male.
Muchas gracias!
Zane.
I’m confused about when to use formal and when to use familiar (friendly). I instictively tend to use formal, but I don’t know which is correct.
I noticed no reply so here is my attempt!
es is the 3rd person singular of the verb estar.
It’s inverted because it’s a question, so the word order is just like in English.
Pronouns are optional in Spanish. The pronoun is included in the verb conjugation. You would use a pronoun for emphasis. Por ejemplo: If you want to say he / she /you speak you would use habla. So habla could mean she speaks or he speaks or you speak. Generally, though it is clear who is speaking from the context.
Laura – pls correct if needed. Love your lessons. Watching you speak really helps me refine my pronunciation.