19 June 2008 - Written by Lyle

One point that often causes trouble (even to native speakers) is how to name the people of place. There are many suffixes which are attached to the end of a place name to create a new word, which can be used to name a person.

As a general rule, for countries ending in “a” or “ia” (Korea, Bulgaria, etc) you can simply add an “n” to describe a person from there.

Eg. “My friend married a Korean.”

For countries that do not end in “a” or “ia” it becomes more difficult. The most commonly used suffixes are “er”, “o”, “ard”, and “i”.

Eg. New Zealander, Filipino, Spaniard, Pakistani.

Another common suffix is ‘ese’, but it is usually only used as an adjective, or to refer to the group in its entirety.

Eg. “Do you like Portuguese food?”
“The Japanese are hard workers.”

“Person” is often added when you want to refer to a single person.

Eg. “ I’ve never met a Chinese person.”

Be careful using “ish”, because it is also used as an adjective, or to refer to a language.

Eg. “Swedish cars are expensive.”

“Many Irish children study Spanish.”

There are many irregular forms. It’s quite difficult to master. Names that refer to the people of a region or city are also, but for now let’s just stick with some European countries. Have a go at these…

1. Someone from Denmark is called a ____________________.
2. Someone from Italy is called an _________________________.
3. Someone from Hungary is called a _____________________.
4. Someone from Poland is called a _______________________.
5. Someone from Romania is called a _____________________.
6. Someone from Sweden is called a ______________________.
7. Someone from the U.K. is called a ______________________.
8. Someone from Greece is called a _______________________.
9. Someone from Finland is called a ________________________.
10. Someone from Estonia is called an ______________________.