Colour, size and nationality

Image    Their house is red.


Adjectives describe nouns.

 

1.     Before a noun:   It's a blue car.

 

2.     After 'to be':   The car is/isn't blue.

 

 

There isn't a plural form:

 

The cars are reds. Image

The cars are red. Image

  

Adjectives give information about people and things. For example: colour, size and nationality. 

 

It's green.

It's a big city.

They're French.

The river is 100km long.

Mont Blanc is 4,810m high.

She's 1.75m tall.

 

 

Image

 Image

There are two purple sofas and a pink chair.

 

 Is your office big or small?

Image

Image

My boss is American and his clients are Japanese.

  James is tall.


Image   King Charles is British.

We use adjectives for nationality before a noun or after 'to be'.  They always begin with a capital letter. 

            I work with a Spanish man.

            We have a Swedish manager.

            He's French.

            They're German.

 

 

We use adjectives ending in 'an' as nouns:

 

            He's a German/an American/an Italian.  Image

            He's a Swedish/a French/a Japanese.    Image

 

For the nouns of nationalities ending with -ese, -ish, or -ch, we can use 'the' to talk about the whole population.

            The English often take their holidays in France. 

For nationalities ending with -n, generally no article is necessary.

            Americans are friendly. 

 

Here are some examples with their countries:

Ending

Country

Nationality

Nouns

'an'

Angola

Australia

Belgium

Canada

Egypt

Germany

India

Italy

Korea

Latvia

Mexico

Norway

Peru

USA

Angolan

Australian

Belgian

Canadian

Egyptian

German

Indian

Italian

Korean

Latvian

Mexican

Norwegian

Peruvian

American

 

an Angolan (person)

an Australian (person)

a Belgian (person)

a Canadian (person)

an Egyptian (person)

a German (person)

an Indian (person)

an Italian (person)

a Korean (person)

a Latvian (person)

a Mexican (person)

a Norwegian (person)

a Peruvian (person)

an American (person)

 

'ish'

Denmark

England

Finland

Poland

Scotland

Spain

Sweden

UK

 

Danish

English

Finnish

Polish

Scottish

Spanish

Swedish

British

a Danish person; a Dane

an English person; an Englishman [not 'Englishwoman']

a Finnish person; a Finn

a Polish person; a Pole

a Scottish person; a Scot

a Spanish person; a Spaniard

a Swedish person; a Swede

a British person

'ese'

Burma

China

Japan

Malta

Nepal

Portugal

Senegal

Vietnam

Burmese

Chinese

Japanese

Maltese

Nepalese

Portuguese

Senegalese

Vietnamese

 

a Burmese person

a Chinese person

a Japanese person

a Maltese person

a Nepalese person

a Portuguese person

a Senegalese person

a Vietnamese person

Other

France

Greece

Iceland

Iraq

Pakistan

Switzerland

Wales

French

Greek

Icelandic

Iraqi

Pakistani

Swiss

Welsh

a French person

a Greek person; a Greek

an Icelandic person

an Iraqi person; an Iraqi

a Pakistani person; a Pakistani

a Swiss person; a Swiss

a Welsh person

 

 

Note that 'person' can also be 'man', 'woman', 'child', 'friend', 'colleague', 'manager' etc.


Examples:   

Irish Flag drapeau  This is the Irish flag.                       ice cream glace dessert gelato  I like Italian ice-cream.

Paris friends ami                                              Image

Emily is English. Her friend, Karine, is French.           Andrew is a Swede. Tomoko is a Japanese visitor.