Foto: Art Explosion
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Foto: Art Explosion
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Foto: Art Explosion
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You can use the verb ser in order to express the origin of someone or something using a construction that you are already familiar with: ser + adjective. Remember that the word indicating nationality is an adjective and thus must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.
| person/thing + | ser + | adjective of nationality |
|---|---|---|
 El coche |
es | japonés. |
| Jorge y Eduardo |
son | dominicanos. |
| Mónica |
es | francesa. |
| Tatiana |
es | canadiense. |
| Ellos |
son | salvadoreños. |
Note that with adjectives describing nationality, there are three basic patterns of endings. Some of the nationality adjectives end in either –o or –a, for example, cubano/cubana or panameño/panameña. In this case, just as you have already seen with many other adjectives, the ending is decided in the regular way: –o for masculine adjectives and –a for feminine. The plural is formed for both masculine and feminine by adding –s.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masculino | -o (cubano) |
-os (cubanos) |
| femenino | -a (cubana) |
-as (cubanas) |
There is also a second pattern of nationality endings. In this second case, the masculine form ends in a consonant, such as –s or –l (like francés) whereas the feminine is formed by simply adding an –a after the consonant (francesa). In the plural, an –es is added to the masculine form, and an –s to the feminine form.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masculino | -consonant, -l (español) |
-consonant, -es (españoles) |
| femenino | -a (española) |
-as (españolas) |
Other nationality adjectives, such as canadiense or nicaragüense end in –e regardless of whether they are referring to a man or a woman. The plural is formed by adding an –s.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masculino y femenino | -e (costarricense) |
-es (costarricenses) |
While the vast majority of nationality adjectives fall into one of the three patterns above, there are some nationality adjectives which are exceptions. One of these exceptions is an –ita ending for both masculine and feminine, as in vietnamita or israelita. To make a nationality adjective ending in –ita plural, add an –s (vietnamitas or israelitas).
Another exception is adjectives ending in an accented vowel for both masculine or feminine. One example of this type of adjective is marroquí. The plural is formed by adding –es after the –í, for instance marroquíes. Another example is hindú, which is hindúes in the plural.
Más sobre adjetivos de nacionalidad
The origin of people or things can also be expressed in another way, with the verb ser, followed by the preposition de, then a noun which designates a place of origina city, country, etc. As such, it is equivalent to “to be from.” For example:
| person/thing + | ser de + | place of origin |
|---|---|---|
| Juan Pablo |
es de |
Argentina. 
Foto: total 13 CC BY 2.0 |
| Anabel |
es de | España. |
| Guillermo y Carlos |
son de |
México. 
Foto: jim Winstead CC BY 2.0 |
| Sonia y yo |
somos de | Portugal. |
| Yo |
soy de |
Pittsburgh. 
Foto: Chris Winters CC BY-SA 2.0 |
Candela Citations
- Lesson 2 estructuras gramaticales. Authored by: Open Learning Initiative. Provided by: Carnegie Mellon. Located at: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/lms/students/syllabus.do?section=037856eb80020ca6007833f93f06cd13. Project: Spanish1. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
