Il est rwandais, elle est rwandaise (Nationality words)

1A mistake on the badge

At the tournament, every player gets a badge with their name, their country and their nationality. But the coach is in a hurry. On Aisha's badge he writes « ougandais ». Aisha laughs: « Coach, je suis une fille ! Je suis ougandaise ! »

In French, nationality words change for a girl and for a boy. Let's learn how.

2Read: the players' badges

3Grammar: masculine and feminine nationality words

A nationality word describes a person, so it copies the person: masculine for a boy or a man, feminine for a girl or a woman. There are three patterns:

For more than one person, add -s: des filles rwandaises, des garçons canadiens. But a word that already ends in -s does not change: un garçon rwandais, des garçons rwandais.

4Small letter or capital letter?

• After il est, elle est, the nationality is a describing word, with a small letter: Keza est rwandaise.
• When it is the name of the PERSON (a noun), it takes a capital letter: Les Rwandais aiment le football. C'est une Ougandaise.
• Languages always take a small letter: le kinyarwanda, le français, l'anglais, le swahili.

5Say it right: hear the girl!

In the masculine, the last consonant is silent: rwandai(s), françai(s). In the feminine, the -e makes you hear it: rwandaise [z], française [z], américaine [n]. With -ien, the nasal sound disappears: canadien [ɛ̃] but canadienne [ɛn]. So you can HEAR if the person is a boy or a girl.

Your turn to write

Make badges for four people you know or invent: one boy and one girl from Rwanda, and one boy and one girl from another country. Write Nom, Pays, Nationalité. Then present them: Voici Keza. Elle vient du Rwanda. Elle est rwandaise.

Try it yourself