Countries, Demonyms and Adjectives in German

Countries and prepositions in German

When talking about countries in German, we can choose between three different prepositions: aus, in and nach.

Which preposition we use depends on the context:

• use aus to indicate origin (= from)

Example:

—Wo kommst du her?Where are you from?

—Ich komme aus Italien.I’m from Italy.

• use in to show a location (= in)

Example:

—Wo wohnst du?Where do you live?

—Ich lebe in Deutschland.I live in Germany.

• use nach to show a direction or destination (= to/towards) (note: countries that take an article use in not nach in this case, see below for more information)

Example:

—Wohin verreist du?Where are you travelling?

—Ich reise nach Spanien.I’m travelling to Spain.

but: Ich reise in die Schweiz.

Countries that take an article in German

In German, the majority of countries are used without an article. However, there are some exceptions (e.g. die Schweiz, der Irak, die Niederlande, etc.).

With these countries, the article is declined (changes) depending on the case.

• use the dative article to express origin or location

Examples:

Ich komme aus der Schweiz.I come from Switzerland.

Ich wohne im Irak.I live in Iraq.

in + dem = im

Ich studiere in den Niederlanden.I study in the Netherlands.

• use the accusative article to express a direction

Examples:

Ich reise in die Schweiz.I’m travelling to Switzerland.

Ich reise in den Irak.I’m travelling to Iraq.

Ich reise in die Niederlande.I’m travelling to the Netherlands.

Island preposition: auf

Most islands take the preposition auf in German.

Example:

die Tier- und Pflanzenwelt auf den Philippinenthe animal and plant kingdom in the Philippines

When referring to the political situation, we use the preposition in.

Example:

die Menschenrechte in den Philippinenhuman rights in the Philippines

We also use in not auf to refer to a group of islands.

Example:

Wir machen Urlaub auf Malta.We’re on holiday in Malta.

on the island of Malta itself

Wir machen Urlaub in Malta.We’re on holiday in Malta.

all the various islands

Demonyms vs. adjectives

A demonym (Einwohnerbezeichnung) is the word we use for an inhabitant of a certain country. Like in English, German demonyms are written with a capital letter.

Example:

Spanien – der Spanier/die SpanierinSpain – the Spaniard

Unlike in English, the country adjectives in German often have a different form to the matching demonym and are written with a lowercase letter.

Example:

Spanien – der spanische WeinSpain – the Spanish wine

Compare:

Example:

Meine Mitbewohnerin ist Spanierin.My flatmate is Spanish. (demonym)

Das Rezept ist spanisch.It’s a Spanish recipe. (adjective)

Some countries have no demonym or adjective. In this case, we just use the country name.

Examples :

die Bewohner von Macauthe people from Macau

ein Souvenir aus Macaua souvenir from Macau

Source

List of countries taken from: Europäische Union – Institutionelle Regeln für Veröffentlichungen