Adjectives used as nouns

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns. However, in some cases, adjectives can be used as nouns themselves. This is known as using an adjective as a noun.

When an adjective is used as a noun, it typically refers to a group of people who share a common characteristic.

Grammar patterns:

long form = adjective + people

short form = The + adjective

Examples:

Rich people spend a lot of money traveling.

The rich spend a lot of money traveling.

“the rich” refers to a group of people who have a lot of money. In some cases, plural nationalities can also be formed by using adjectives as nouns.

French people drink a lot of wine.

The French drink a lot of wine.

“the French” refers to a group of people who are from France.

Here are some examples of adjectives used as nouns, including plural nationalities:

The poor – This refers to a group of people who have very little money or resources. For example: “The government needs to do more to help the poor.”
The elderly – This refers to older people, usually over the age of 65. For example: “We need to make sure our healthcare system is equipped to take care of the elderly.”
The deaf – This refers to people who cannot hear. For example: “The school installed special equipment to help the deaf students.”
The French – This refers to people who are from France. For example: “The French are known for their love of food and wine.”
The Chinese – This refers to people who are from China. For example: “The Chinese celebrate the Lunar New Year with fireworks and festivals.”

In each of these examples, the adjective is used as a noun to refer to a specific group of people. When using adjectives as nouns, it’s important to make sure the context makes it clear what group of people you are referring to.

Nationalities

In English, when we talk about a person’s nationality, we usually use an adjective derived from the name of the country. For example, we might say someone is “Japanese” or “Mexican.” However, what do we do when someone has multiple nationalities, or when we want to refer to a group of people from a certain country?

When someone has multiple nationalities, we use the singular form of each nationality and separate them with “and.” For example, if someone has both American and Italian citizenship, we would say he/she is “American and Italian.” Here are a few more examples:

She is French and Canadian.
He is British and Australian.
They are German and Swiss.

When referring to a group of people from a certain country, we can use either the singular or plural form of the nationality adjective, depending on the context. For example:

“The French team won the World Cup.” Here, we use the singular form “French” because we are talking about a single team.
“The French are known for their love of food and wine.” Here, we use the plural form “French” because we are talking about a group of people as a whole.

For certain plural nationalities that end in –ese, –ss, –sh, or –ch, the definite article “the” is used before the nationality in its plural form. For example, “Chinese” becomes “the Chinese” in its plural form.

Country	Nationality (singular)	Nationality (plural)
Afghanistan	Afghan	Afghans
Albania	Albanian	Albanians
Algeria	Algerian	Algerians
Andorra	Andorran	Andorrans
Angola	Angolan	Angolans
Antigua and Barbuda	Antiguan	Antiguans
Argentina	Argentine	Argentines
Armenia	Armenian	Armenians
Australia	Australian	Australians
Austria	Austrian	Austrians
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijani	Azerbaijanis
Bahamas	Bahamian	Bahamians
Bahrain	Bahraini	Bahrainis
Bangladesh	Bangladeshi	Bangladeshis
Barbados	Barbadian	Barbadians
Belarus	Belarusian	Belarusians
Belgium	Belgian	Belgians
Belize	Belizean	Belizeans
Benin	Beninese	The Beninese
Bhutan	Bhutanese	The Bhutanese
Bolivia	Bolivian	Bolivians
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian	Bosnians
Botswana	Motswana	Batswana
Brazil	Brazilian	Brazilians
Brunei	Bruneian	Bruneians
Bulgaria	Bulgarian	Bulgarians
Burkina Faso	Burkinabe	Burkinabes
Burundi	Burundian	Burundians
Cabo Verde	Cape Verdean	Cape Verdeans
Cambodia	Cambodian	Cambodians
Cameroon	Cameroonian	Cameroonians
Canada	Canadian	Canadians
Central African Republic	Central African	Central Africans
Chad	Chadian	Chadians
Chile	Chilean	Chileans
China	Chinese	The Chinese
Colombia	Colombian	Colombians
Comoros	Comoran	Comorans
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	Congolese	The Congolese
Congo, Republic of the	Congolese	The Congolese
Costa Rica	Costa Rican	Costa Ricans
Côte d’Ivoire	Ivorian	Ivorians
Croatia	Croatian	Croatians
Cuba	Cuban	Cubans
Cyprus	Cypriot	Cypriots
Czech Republic	Czech	Czechs
Denmark	Danish	Danes
Djibouti	Djiboutian	Djiboutians
Dominica	Dominican	Dominicans
Dominican Republic	Dominican	Dominicans
Ecuador	Ecuadorian	Ecuadorians
Egypt	Egyptian	Egyptians
El Salvador	Salvadoran	Salvadorans
Equatorial Guinea	Equatorial Guinean	Equatorial Guineans
Eritrea	Eritrean	Eritreans
Estonia	Estonian	Estonians
Eswatini	Swazi	Swazis
Ethiopia	Ethiopian	Ethiopians
Fiji	Fijian	Fijians
Finland	Finnish	Finns
France	French	The French
Gabon	Gabonese	The Gabonese
Gambia	Gambian	Gambians
Georgia	Georgian	Georgians
Germany	German	Germans
Ghana	Ghanaian	Ghanaians
Greece	Greek	Greeks
Grenada	Grenadian	Grenadians
Guatemala	Guatemalan	Guatemalans
Guinea	Guinean	Guineans
Guinea-Bissau	Bissau-Guinean	Bissau-Guineans
Guyana	Guyanese	The Guyanese
Haiti	Haitian	Haitians
Honduras	Honduran	Hondurans
Hungary	Hungarian	Hungarians
Iceland	Icelander	Icelanders
India	Indian	Indians
Indonesia	Indonesian	Indonesians
Iran	Iranian	Iranians
Iraq	Iraqi	Iraqis
Ireland	Irish	The Irish
Israel	Israeli	Israelis
Italy	Italian	Italians
Jamaica	Jamaican	Jamaicans
Japan	Japanese	Japanese
Jordan	Jordanian	Jordanians
Kazakhstan	Kazakh	Kazakhs
Kenya	Kenyan	Kenyans
Kiribati	I-Kiribati	The I-Kiribati
Korea, North	North Korean	North Koreans
Korea, South	South Korean	South Koreans
Kuwait	Kuwaiti	Kuwaitis
Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyz	The Kyrgyz
Laos	Laotian	Laotians
Latvia	Latvian	Latvians
Lebanon	Lebanese	The Lebanese
Lesotho	Mosotho	The Basotho
Liberia	Liberian	Liberians
Libya	Libyan	Libyans
Liechtenstein	Liechtensteiner	Liechtensteiners
Lithuania	Lithuanian	Lithuanians
Luxembourg	Luxembourger	Luxembourgers
Madagascar	Malagasy	The Malagasies
Malawi	Malawian	Malawians
Malaysia	Malaysian	Malaysians
Maldives	Maldivian	Maldivians
Mali	Malian	Malians
Malta	Maltese	The Maltese
Marshall Islands	Marshallese	The Marshallese
Mauritania	Mauritanian	Mauritanians
Mauritius	Mauritian	Mauritians
Mexico	Mexican	Mexicans
Micronesia	Micronesian	Micronesians
Moldova	Moldovan	Moldovans
Monaco	Monégasque	Monégasques
Mongolia	Mongolian	Mongolians
Montenegro	Montenegrin	Montenegrins
Morocco	Moroccan	Moroccans
Mozambique	Mozambican	Mozambicans
Myanmar	Burmese	The Burmese
Namibia	Namibian	Namibians
Nauru	Nauruan	Nauruans
Nepal	Nepali	Nepalis
Netherlands	Dutch	Dutch
New Zealand	New Zealander	New Zealanders
Nicaragua	Nicaraguan	Nicaraguans
Niger	Nigerien	Nigeriens
Nigeria	Nigerian	Nigerians
North Macedonia	Macedonian	Macedonians
Norway	Norwegian	Norwegians
Oman	Omani	Omanis
Pakistan	Pakistani	Pakistanis
Palau	Palauan	Palauans
Panama	Panamanian	Panamanians
Papua New Guinea	Papua New Guinean	Papua New Guineans
Paraguay	Paraguayan	Paraguayans
Peru	Peruvian	Peruvians
Philippines	Filipino	Filipinos
Poland	Polish	Poles
Portugal	Portuguese	The Portuguese
Qatar	Qatari	Qataris
Romania	Romanian	Romanians
Russia	Russian	Russians
Rwanda	Rwandan	Rwandans
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Kittitian or Nevisian	Kittitians or Nevisians
Saint Lucia	Saint Lucian	Saint Lucians
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Vincentian	Vincentians
Samoa	Samoan	Samoans
San Marino	Sammarinese	The Sammarinese
Sao Tome and Principe	Santomean	Santomeans
Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabian	Saudi Arabians
Senegal	Senegalese	The Senegalese
Serbia	Serbian	Serbians
Seychelles	Seychellois	The Seychellois
Sierra Leone	Sierra Leonean	Sierra Leoneans
Singapore	Singaporean	Singaporeans
Slovakia	Slovak	Slovaks
Slovenia	Slovenian	Slovenians
Solomon Islands	Solomon Islander	Solomon Islanders
Somalia	Somali	Somalis
South Africa	South African	South Africans
South Sudan	South Sudanese	The South Sudanese
Spain	Spanish	Spaniards/ The Spanish
Sri Lanka	Sri Lankan	Sri Lankans
Sudan	Sudanese	The Sudanese
Suriname	Surinamese	The Surinamese
Sweden	Swedish	Swedes
Switzerland	Swiss	The Swiss
Syria	Syrian	Syrians
Taiwan	Taiwanese	The Taiwanese
Tajikistan	Tajik	Tajiks
Tanzania	Tanzanian	Tanzanians
Thailand	Thai	Thais
Timor-Leste	Timorese	The Timorese
Togo	Togolese	The Togolese
Tonga	Tongan	Tongans
Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidadian or Tobagonian	Trinidadians or Tobagonians
Tunisia	Tunisian	Tunisians
Turkey	Turkish	Turks
Turkmenistan	Turkmen	The Turkmen
Tuvalu	Tuvaluan	Tuvaluans
Uganda	Ugandan	Ugandans
Ukraine	Ukrainian	Ukrainians
United Arab Emirates	Emirati or Emirian	Emiratis or Emirians
United Kingdom	British	The British
United States	American	Americans
Uruguay	Uruguayan	Uruguayans
Uzbekistan	Uzbek	Uzbeks
Vanuatu	Ni-Vanuatu	The Ni-Vanuatu
Vatican City	Vatican	The Vatican
Venezuela	Venezuelan	Venezuelans
Vietnam	Vietnamese	The Vietnamese
Yemen	Yemeni	Yemenis
Zambia	Zambian	Zambians
Zimbabwe	Zimbabwean	Zimbabweans