Transcription
Uh, where are you from? Me? I am come from Italy. No, wait, I'm come from you. Either say "I am from" or "I come from." You don't say "I am come from." No, but you know what? Let's talk about countries and nationalities.
Hello, my name is Maddie from POC English. If you want to talk about a country, a nation, or a region, you need to know three things. The first thing you need to know is very simple: the name of that country. For example, America, Italy, France, Spain. These are the names of different countries. The name of the country is very useful if you want to say where you are from. For example, if someone asks you, "Where are you from?" you can say, "I'm from" and then the name of your country. "I'm from Italy," "I'm from France." There is also another question that somebody might ask you: "Where do you come from?" Where do you come from? And then you can say, "I come from" plus the name of your country. "I come from Italy," "I come from France," "I come from Spain." So, if somebody asks, "Where are you from?" you say, "I am from." If somebody says, "Where do you come from?" you say, "I come from." Now, pay attention. A very common mistake: sometimes students mix the two structures together, like "I am come from." No, no, no, no, no. You don't say "I am come from." You say "I am from" or "I come from," or maybe even in the question form, some people might say, "Where are you come from?" No, my friend, you should say "Where are you from?" or "Where do you come from?" So be very careful. "Where are you from?" "I'm from Italy." "Where do you come from?" "I come from Italy." All right.
What is the second thing you need to know to talk about a region, a nation, or a country? Well, that is the nationality adjective for that country. For example, America is the name of the country, and the adjective is American. Italy, Italian; France, French; Spain, Spanish. These are the adjectives. If someone says, "Where are you from?" you can use this structure and say, "I'm" plus the adjective of your country. For example, "Where are you from?" "I'm Italian," "I'm Spanish," "I'm French," "I'm American." Okay, hold on a second. There are three options you have to respond to "Where are you from?" You can say, "I am from" plus the name of the country: "I'm from Italy." You can say, "I come from" plus the name of your country: "I come from Italy." Or you can say, "I am" plus the adjective of the country: "I am Italian." So don't say "I am from Italian," "I come from Italian," or "I'm Italy," "I'm Italy." You can also use the adjective of a country, the nationality adjective, to talk about the things which belong to that country. For example, you can say "American companies," the companies that belong to the US. You can say "Italian food," the food that belongs to Italy. You can say "French wine," the wine that comes from France, that is made in France. Or you can say "Spanish culture," the culture that belongs to Spain. Another use of the nationality adjective is to talk about the people of a country. So you can say "an American man," "an Italian girl," "a French actor," "a Spanish chef." So you can use the adjective, the nationality adjective, plus a noun to say where something or someone comes from: "American companies," companies from America; "a Spanish chef," a chef from Spain. "When I was in America, an American man helped me with my luggage." When I was in America, name of the country, an American man, a man from America, helped me with my luggage. Look at this sentence: "Italian are very sociable people." What do you think? No, this is wrong. Why? Because "Italian" is an adjective, right? And after the adjective, we need a noun. "Italian what?" Sociable Italian people are very sociable. Or look at this one: "French are really talented." Is it correct? "French" is an adjective. "French what?" Very talented French people. We need a noun after the adjective. So if you want to talk about the people of a country, you should say "American people," "British people," "Italian people," "Portuguese people," "Brazilian people." But it's like, "people, people, people, people, people, people." Is there a way not to say "people"?
Actually, that is the third thing you need to know if you want to talk about a country, a nation, or a region: how to talk about the entire population of a country, how to talk about all the people of a country. As I said before, you can use the adjective plus the word "people" and say "English people." "English people are very talented." But if you don't want to use the noun after the adjective, you can do one thing: remove the noun and put "the" before the adjective. So instead of saying "English people are very talented," you can say "The English are very talented." Very interesting, right? But pay attention: you cannot use this formula for all the nationalities. You can use it for nationalities that end in "-sh," like English or Spanish; those ending in "-ch," like Dutch or French; and those ending in "-ese," like Chinese, Japanese. For example, you can say "Spanish people are very hardworking" or "The Spanish are very hardworking." "Dutch people are very punctual" or "The Dutch are very punctual." "English people love drinking tea," "The English love drinking tea." "Japanese people have a very healthy lifestyle" or "The Japanese have a very healthy lifestyle." So you either use the adjective plus the noun or you remove the noun and use "the" at the beginning. However, you can only use it for the nationality adjectives ending in "-sh," "-ch," or "-ese." But what about the rest of them? For other countries, you can use "the" plus plural noun. So you should basically add one "s" to the adjective to make a plural noun. For example, "Italian people" or "The Italians," "German people" or "The Germans," "American people" or "The Americans." Pay attention: if you don't use that "s," it's wrong. You cannot say "The Italian." No, you say "The Italians." For example, "Italian people love eating," "The Italians love eating." You cannot say "The Italian," "The Italians love eating." "American people love camping," "The Americans love camping."
Now, to sum up, look at this table. The first column is the name of the country; the second column is the adjective; and the third column is how you can talk about the entire population or all the people from one country. Now, the first group: Spain, adjective is Spanish; England, English; Britain, British; Wales, Welsh; okay, France, French; the Netherlands, Dutch; the name entirely changes; China, Chinese; Japan, Japanese; and Portugal, Portuguese. Portugal, Portuguese. Pay attention to the pronunciation as well. Now, all of them belong to the first group, and if you notice, they all end in "-sh," "-ch," or "-ese." So if you want to talk about the entire population of a country of this list, you can either say adjective plus noun: "English people," or remove the noun and use "the" at the beginning of the adjective with no noun, like "The English," "The Dutch," "The Chinese," "The Japanese," "The Portuguese," "The British." Now, look at group number two: Italy, Italian; Brazil, Brazilian; America, American; Belgium, Belgian; Norway, Norwegian. If you want to talk about the entire population, all the people of these countries, you either use the adjective plus noun: "Norwegian people," "Italian people," "Brazilian people," or you remove the noun and use "the" in the beginning, plus "s" to make a plural noun: "The Italians," "The Brazilians," "The Belgians," "The Norwegians," "The Americans." And group number three: these are irregular nationalities and countries. Number one: Thailand, the adjective is Thai, and if you want to talk about the people of this country, you say "The Thais." The second one is Switzerland; the adjective is Swiss, and to talk about the people, you say "The Swiss." Number three: Finland, the adjective is Finnish, and if you want to talk about the people of this country, you say "The Finns." Poland, the adjective is Polish, and to refer to people, you say "The Poles." Scotland, Scottish, the Scots; Sweden, Swedish, the Swedes; Turkey, Turkish, the Turks. If you want to have the list of these countries and nationalities, the summary of this lesson and every other lesson that I post on YouTube for free, what you need to do is to give me your email address. But how? Go to my website, pocenglish.com. The link is in the description of this video. Click on the link, go to my website, type in your email address, and click subscribe. I will send you the lesson summary for free, and that's it, guys. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson, and as a challenge, let me know where you are from and tell me a little bit about your country in the comments below. See you. [Music]