Countries, Demonyms and Languages
n this article we will look at the Spanish name for the countries of the world, their demonyms, and the name of the languages spoken in each country. The gender (m/f) indicated is the one that grammatically corresponds to the name of the country (the one that governs, for example, in todo Uruguay [all of Uruguay] or toda Argentina [all of Argentina]), although in current usage many country names are used without an article. For languages, the official language or languages, or the most widely used ones, are indicated; countries with more than two or three official languages are narrowed down to the main ones. This is a lot of information all at once, but the good news is that not all of it is necessary: when we learn a foreign language, for everyday use we generally only need to learn the name and the rest of the information for some countries, so I recommend starting by looking up mainly the information for the countries you actually need. Let's go!
The verbs ser, vivir, and hablar
To indicate where we’re from, or to ask where someone is from, we use the verb ser (to be). Let’s review its conjugation in the present indicative.
Yo soy
Tú eres
Él/Ella/Usted es
Nosotros/as somos
Vosotros/as sois
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes son
To indicate what country we come from, or to ask what country someone comes from, we use the preposition de.
¿De qué país eres? (What country are you from?)
Yo soy de Uruguay. (I am from Uruguay.)
It is also very common to ask ¿De dónde eres? (Where are you from?) and the answer stays the same.
To give the demonym, or to ask about someone’s nationality when we suspect where they’re from, we don’t use prepositions.
¿Eres uruguayo? (Are you Uruguayan?)
Soy uruguayo. (I am Uruguayan.)
In Spanish, demonyms are written in lowercase.
To introduce or ask about the country a person lives in, we normally use the verb vivir (to live). Let’s review its conjugation in the present indicative.
Yo vivo
Tú vives
Él/Ella/Usted vive
Nosotros/as vivimos
Vosotros/as vivís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes viven
In this case we also need a preposition, which is en.
¿En qué país vives? / ¿En dónde vives? (What country do you live in? / Where do you live?)
Vivo en Uruguay. (I live in Uruguay.)
To introduce or ask about the languages a person speaks, we use the verb hablar (to speak). Let’s review its conjugation in the present indicative.
Yo hablo
Tú hablas
Él/Ella/Usted habla
Nosotros/as hablamos
Vosotros/as habláis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes hablan
It’s not necessary to use prepositions.
¿Qué idiomas hablas? (What languages do you speak?)
Hablo inglés, alemán y francés. (I speak English, German, and French.)
We can, of course, ask directly about one particular language. ¿Hablas español? (Do you speak Spanish?)
Clarification: when we’re referring to the language a book or some other piece of content is in, we use the verb estar and the preposition en.
La película está en español. (The movie is in Spanish.)
Countries, Demonyms, and Languages.
Below is a long list of countries in the following format. Country (grammatical gender): masculine demonym, feminine demonym. Language(s) spoken. Example: Uruguay (m): el uruguayo, la uruguaya. Español. (Uruguay (m): the Uruguayan (m), the Uruguayan (f). Spanish.)
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