Lesson 11: Nationalities and countries
Where are you from? That’s a question you hear a lot in a country you’re not speaking the language of. It’s also a nice question to ask to your fellow learners. So ask the questions in this lesson as many times as possible!
Woher kommst du / kommen Sie? It’s as simple as that. Wo means where, and woher from where. Kommen is a strong verb and means come. You can also ask ‘wo kommst du / kommen Sie her?’ The wo and her are split up.
The answer is: ‘Ich komme aus Deutschland.’ To which you can add: ‘Ich bin Deutscher.’ Well, that’s for a German man. Aus means from. Deutschland is Germany, and Deutscher means German as in being a German national. Deutscherin is the female.
Find your own country here in German, so you can answer the question. Some examples: Frankreich, Österreich, die Schweiz, die USA, Italien, Schweden, Belgien and Polen. Did you recognise them? They’re France, Austria, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Poland.
Did you notice the article in front of Schweiz and USA? That’s not a mistake. Some countries take an article, so mind that if your country takes the article. Turkey, for example, is die Türkei. So if you’re from that country, you say ich komme aus die Türkei.
The nationalities usually end with -er or -e. For example, Franzose, Österreicher, Schweizer, Amerikaner, Italiener, Schwede, Belgier, Pole, Deutscher. For the female version, just add -in and remove the -e if it ends with an -e. Mind some small changes: Franzose becomes Französerin. The plural is -n for the nationalities ending with -e, and nothing for -er. Females add -nen.
The adjectives are usually the root of the nationality plus -isch: Französisch, Österreichisch, Schweizerisch, Amerikanisch, Italienisch, Schwedisch, Belgisch, Polnisch, Deutsch. Mind the exceptions in bold. You can find all the nationalities and adjectives here.
Words:
Note that die Welt is also a newspaper. When you feel you’re ready, read some articles.
Exercises:
Translate the small dialogues
- Good morning, mrs…
Müller. Good morning.
Where are you from?
I’m German. And you?
I am from Belgium. - Hi!
Hi! What’s your name?
Mark. And yours?
Sarah. Where are you from?
I’m from the USA. And you?
I am Swiss.
Goodbye.
Bye.
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Solutions
- Guten Morgen, Frau…
Müller. Guten Morgen.
Woher kommen Sie?
Ich bin Deutscherin. Und Sie?
Ich komme aus Belgien. - Hi!
Hi! Wie heißt du?
Mark. Und du?
Sarah. Woher kommst du?
Ich komme aus die USA. Und du?
Ich bin Schweizerin.
Tschüss.
Tschüss.