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One question your students are likely to answer many times throughout their lives is "Where are you from?" Another might be, "What is your nationality?" Knowing how to answer this question in English or describe the nationalities of other people they know can sometimes be tricky. Thankfully, there are a few simple rules students learn to express their nationalities with pride.

Rules for Determining Nationality

Countries that End with -IA

In countries that end with -IA, you say the nationality with -IAN at the end. For example, a person from Croatia is Croatian.  A person from bulgaria is Bulgarian.

Countries that End with -A

In countries that end with -A, like America, you either add -AN or -IAN to the end. For example, people from America are American, but people from Canada are Canadian. People from Ghana are Ghanaian, but people from Andorra are Andorran.

Countries that End with -STAN

In countries that end with -STAN, the way to pronounce the nationality can vary. In countries like Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, or Kazakhstan, you simply add an i to tne end of the name (Pakistani, Kyrgyzstani, Kazakhstani). However, in some countries, such as Afghanistan, your shorten the name, so a person from Afghanistan is Afghan.

Countries that End with -AN/-EN/-IN

Similar to countries that end with -STAN, in most countries that end with -AN/-EN/-IN, you add an i to the end to form the nationality. For example, someone from Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani. Someone from Yemen is Yemeni. However, not all countries follow this rule. For example, people from Iran are Iranian, people from Bhutan are Bhutanese, and people from Sweden are Swedish.

Countries that End with -LAND

In countries that end with -LAND, the way you form the nationality varies. A person from Iceland is Icelandic, while a person from Finland is Finnish and a person from Switerzland is Swiss. When in doubt, however, choose to end the nationality with -ISH as people from Ireland are Irish, people from Poland are Polish or just take off the ending all together, as people from Swaziland are Swazi and people from Thailand are Thai.

Countries that End with -Y

In most countries that end with -y, you form the nationality by making the final sound -an or -ian. For example, people from Hungary are Hungarian, people from Italy are Italian, and people from Paraguay are Paraguayan. However, there are some exceptions. People from Norway are Norwegian, people from Germany are German, and people from Turkey are Turkish.

Nationalities that End with -ESE

In addition to forming nationalities based on the ending of a country's name, there are a handful of countries where the nationality ends in -ese. For example, a person from China is Chinese. A person from Burma is Burmese. A person from Japan is Japanese. A person from Portugal is Portuguese.

Multinational States

In some countries, nationality is not determined by the name of the country, but rather the ethnic or cultural group a person originates from. For example, someone from Uzbekistan is only an Uzbek if he/she is a native of that group.

Practice Makes Perfect

When it comes to learning nationalities, the best way to help students is to practice. You can have students practice introducing themselves as if they are from different countries.

• Hello, my name is _____________________. I am from _______________________. I am ____________________________.

You can also set up a game where you print out pictures of the flags or names of different countries and have students guess the nationalities of the people who are from there.

Of course, you can also just regularly drill nationalities with students if you find that learning nationalities is something you really want to focus on in your classroom. If you need help figuring out a nationality, reference our handy list below.

Country	Nationality	Country	Nationality	Country	Nationality
Afghanistan	Afghan	Denmark	Danish	Lebanon	Lebanese
Albania	Albania	Djibouti	Djiboutian	Lesotho	Mosotho
Algeria	Algerian	Dominica	Dominican	Liberia	Liberian
Andorra	Andorran	Ecuador	Ecuadorian	Libya	Libyan
Angola	Angolan	Egypt	Egyptian	Liechtenstein	Liechtensteiner
Antigua and Barbuda	Antiguan/Barbudan	El Salvador	Salvadoran	Lituania	Lithuanian
Argentina	Argentinian/Argentine	Equatorial Guinea	Equatorial Guinean	Luxembourg	Luxembourger
Australia	Australian	Eritrea	Eritrean	Macau	Macanese
Azerbaijan	Azebaijani	Estonia	Estonian	Macedonia	Macedonian
Armenia	Armenian	Ethiopia	Ethiopian	Madagascar	Malagasy
The Bahamas	Bahamian	Fiji	Fijian	Malawi	Malawian
Bahrain	Bahraini	France	French	Malaysia	Malaysian
Bangladesh	Bangladeshi	Gabon	Gabonese	Maldives	Maldivian
Barbados	Barbadians	Gambia	Gambian	Mali	Malian
Belarus	Belarusian	Georgia	Georgian	Malta	Maltese
Belgium	Belgian	Germany	German	Marshall Islands	Marshallese
Belize	Belizean	Ghana	Ghanaian	Mauritania	Mauritanian
Benin	Beninese	Greece	Greek	Mexico	Mexican
Bhutan	Bhutanese	Grenada	Grenadian	Micronesia	Micronesian
Bolivia	Bolivian	Guatemala	Guatemalan	Moldova	Moldovan
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian	Guinea	Guniean	Monaco	Monegasque
Botswana	Motswana	Guyana	Guyanese	Mongolia	Mongolian
Brazil	Brazilian	Haiti	Haitian	Montenegro	Montenegrin
Brunei	Bruneian	Honduras	Honduran	Morocco	Moroccan
Bulgaria	Bulgarian	Hong Kong	Hong Kongers	Mozambique	Mozambican
Burkina Faso	Burkinabe	Hungary	Hungarian	Namibia	Namibian
Burma	Burmese	Iceland	Icelandi	Nepal	Nepalese
Burundi	Burundian	India	Indian	Netherlands	Dutch
Cambodia	Cambodian	Indonesia	Indonesian	New Zealand	New Zealander
Cameroon	Cameroonian	Iran	Iranian	Nicaragua	Nicaraguan
Canada	Canadian	Iraq	Iraqi	Niger	Nigerien
Cabo Verde	Cape Verdean/Cabo Verdean	Ireland	Irish	Nigeria	Nigerian
Centrial African Republic	Central African	Israel	Israeli	Norway	Norwegian
Chad	Chadian	Italy	Italian	Oman	Omani
Chile	Chilean	Jamaica	Jamaican	Pakistan	Pakistani
China	Chinese	Japan	Japanese	Palau	Palauan
Colombia	Colombia	Jordan	Jordanian	Panama	Panamanian
Comoros	Comoran	Kazakhstan	Kazakhstani	Paraguay	Paraguayan
Congo	Congolese	Kenya	Kenyan	Peru	Peruvian
Costa Rica	Costa Rican	Kiribati	I-Kiribati	Philippines	Filipino
Cote d'Ivoire	Ivorian	North or South Korea	Korean	Poland	Polish
Croatia	Croatian	Kosovo	Kosovar/Kosovan	Portugal	Portuguese
Cuba	Cuban	Kuwait	Kuwaiti	Qatar	Qatari
Curacao	Curacao	Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyz	Romania	Romanian
Cyprus	Cyprian	Laos	Laotian	Russia	Russian
Czechia	Czech	Latvia	Latvian	Rwanda	Rwandan