You know ʾanā min miṣr, “I am from Egypt”. To say your nationality, add ī to the country: miṣr becomes miṣrī, “Egyptian”. The ending is written with a kasra and a ي with a shadda, and read as a long ī. For some countries the ending -iyā or -istān is dropped first: turkiyā becomes turkī and ʾūzbakistān becomes ʾūzbakī. If the country starts with al-, drop it: al-hind, “India”, becomes hindī. Use the nationality like any word: ʾanā miṣrī, “I am Egyptian” (said by a man). A woman’s form adds ة: miṣriyya.
Country
Nationality (man)
Say
الْهِنْد
هِنْدِيّ
al-hind · hindī
السُّعُودِيَّة
سُعُودِيّ
as-suʿūdiyya · suʿūdī
الْمَغْرِب
مَغْرِبِيّ
al-maghrib · maghribī
لُبْنَان
لُبْنَانِيّ
lubnān · lubnānī
Worked examples
Fadi
أَنَا مِن لُبْنَان. أَنَا لُبْنَانِيّ
Fadi says where he is from and what he is. Read: ʾanā min lubnān. ʾanā lubnānī.
مِصْرِmiṣr+يّī
The nationality is the country plus ī: miṣr + ī = miṣrī.
A man and a woman. The woman's word ends in ة: miṣriyya. Unit 10 explains it.
Class activity
World map. Sketch a simple world map, or open an atlas or a globe. Point at Egypt, Uzbekistan, Russia, Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Lebanon and say each name in Arabic. Then write four countries with their nationality words on paper, with all vowels.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Is the word a country or a nationality? Listen for the ending.
…
A nationality: عِرَاقِيّ (ʿirāqī), “Iraqi”. The ending ī shows it.
2
Which word is the nationality: تُرْكِيَا or تُرْكِيّ?
تُرْكِيّ (turkī), “Turkish”.
3
Say in Arabic: “I am from Uzbekistan.”
أَنَا مِن أُوزْبَكِسْتَان
4
Read aloud and translate: هُوَ تُرْكِيّ.
Huwa turkī, “he is Turkish”.
5
How do you make the nationality from a country name?
Add ī at the end (the ending is a ي with a shadda). Drop -iyā, -istān or al- first.
