99 Nationalities & Country Names In French: +Gender & Capitalization Rules

List of country names in French and their corresponding nationalities in French. Plus, tips on how to remember if countries are masculine or feminine.

By Annie André ⦿ updated January 10, 2024  
Country names, genders, and nationalities in French
Country names, genders, and nationalities in French

Knowing when a French word is masculine or feminine can be confusing to non native speakers, and in some cases, even to French people. I've created a list of 99 country names in French and English and their corresponding nationalities along with tips on how to determine if they are masculine or feminine. I've also included continent names, and languages.

Country names and languages in French: Masculine, feminine, or capitalized?

*How do you know if the gender of a country name in French is masculine or feminine?

*And when do you capitalize languages, nationalities, and country names in French? 

It's actually pretty easy!

If you memorize some simple rules and know a few exceptions to the rules, you'll never forget a country's gender in French again. 

Let's go through them now!

Using Definite and indefinite Articles with nouns:

DEFINITE ARTICLES (m) = Masculin, (f) = Feminine, Plural = (pl)

THE: "LE" or "L'" (m), "LA" or "L'" (f), "LES" (pl),
INDEFINITE ARTICLES: A or AN = "UN" (m), UNE (f), SOME = DES (pl)

Before we dive into whether or not a country name is masculine or feminine, you should understand how to use indefinite an definite articles with them.

In English, there is only one definite article "THE" to identify a Noun (person place or thing) whether it's singular or plural. And there are two 2 indefinite articles "A," and "An."

Example: The Country, the countries.

However in French, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. And the definite article in French has to match not only the gender of the noun, it also has to match if it's singular or plural. 

Since countries are nouns, you must use one of four definite article for "THE."

  1. LE ( Masculine )
  2. La (Feminine)
  3. L' (Masculine or Feminine). Use in front of a word that starts with a vowel or the letter "H," when it is silent. 
  4. LES (Plural): Use with nouns that are plural. 

Example: la France (f), le Canada (m), Les Bahamas (pl), La Hongrie (f) (H is not silent), L'Honduras (H is silent.)

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE: Some countries don't take an indefinite article. 

Example: Israël and NOT L'Israël. 

MOST Country names are Feminine In French

RULE: In French, most country names that end in "e" or "ie" are feminine. These feminine country names take the definite article "LA" or "L' ". There are exceptions though. 
  • l'Angleterre (f)
  • l'Italie (f)
  • la France (f)
  • la Tunisie (f)
  • la Thaïlande (f)
EXCEPTION TO THE "E" RULE: There are 6 countries that end with "E," that are not feminine. (see next section about masculine country names)

The only 6 country names in French that end with "E," that are not feminine are: 

  1. le Belize
  2. le Cambodge
  3. le Mexique
  4. le Mozambique
  5. le Suriname
  6. le Zimbabwe

Masculine Country Names In French

RULE: In general, country names that end with a consonant are masculine and take the definite article "Le" or "L' "
  • Le Guatemala
  • Le Japon
  • Le Maroc
  • Le Portugal

Plural Country Names In French

Some countries, like the United States, are always plural and take the article "Les."

  • Les États-Unis
  • Les Bahamas
  • Les Bermudes
  • Les Comores
  • Les Émirats arabes unis
  • Les Fidji or Les Îles Fidji
  • Les Îles Féroé
  • Les Pays-Bas
  • Les Philippines
  • Les Seychelle

Rules to remember about Nationalities and languages In French: Genders (masculine or feminine,) capitalized or not?

"Les Nationalité"

French words are not capitalized as often as they are in English. Many words that are always capitalized in English cannot be capitalized in French or are only sometimes capitalized, such as nationalities. 

Without knowing the rules, you might be wondering why some nationalities in French are capitalized, while others are not. Or how a nationality in French can be masculine and feminine in the same phrase?

Below is a silly nonsensical phrase I made up to highlight capitalization and gender for nationalities and languages in French.

Notice how the word for French "FRANÇAIS" is both capitalized and not capitalized in the same sentence, and how there is an extra "es" added to the last one. 

  • The French speak French with their French mothers in France.
  • Les Français parlent français avec leurs maman françaises en France. 

Their are a few things going on here, so let's go over the rules now!

Never Capitalize Languages

#1 Language Capitalization Rule: Languages are never capitalized in French.

When dealing with countries and nationalities, language is bound to come up. Fortunately, they're easy to deal with. 

While country names in French are always capitalized because they are proper nouns. the names of languages are never capitalized.

Here are some example phrases using languages. Notice that they are not capitalized like they are in English. 

  • Do you speak French?
  • Est ce que vous parlez français?
  • You speak English very well.
  • Vous parlez très bien anglais.
  • Nationalities must agree with the gender

    #2 Gender RULE: The gender of a nationality must agree with the gender of the subject: 

    While a country genders doesn't change, nationalities can change to match the gender of the subject.

    Example:

    •  Jean Louis is French, and Isabelle is French
    • Jean Louis est français et Isabelle est française

    In the above example, Jean Louis is a male, so you must use the masculine "français" to describe his nationality. And Isabelle is a female, so you must use the feminine "française" with an "e" at the end to  matcher her gender.

    Here is another example. 

    • A French film, and a French show.
    • Un film français et une émission française. (m)

    The French word "Film" is masculine so the nationality "français" must also be masculine. The French word "émission" is feminine so the you must add an "e" to the end "française" to turn this nationality into its feminine form.

    When to capitalize nationalities in French

    #3 Capitalization rule: Only capitalize nationalities in French when they are used as a proper noun and when they refer to an inhabitant of a country. 

    Now take a look at the example below where the nationality "Les Français" is capitalized. That's because it's used as a proper noun that refers to the French people as inhabitants of a country and not as adjectives.

    • Les Français mangent de la très bonne cuisine française en France.
    • The French eat really good French food in France

    Here is another example where nationality is capitalized in French because it's being used as a proper noun of inhabitants of a country.

    • I like the French
    • J’aime les Français.

    exception to capitalizing Someone's nationality in French. 

    • I am French, he is French, she is French
    • "Je suis français, il est français, elle est française." 

    The word "français" In the French phrase "je suis français" (I am French) refers to an inhabitant of a country, so shouldn't it be capitalized?

    Non!  L’Académie française has a special rule when stating a nationality like this and treats it the same as an adjective. So in this case, nationality should not be capitalized.. (Even native French speakers mess this one up from time to time.)

    In contrast, the following phrase uses the nationality "Français," as a proper noun so it is capitalized.

    • I am a Frenchman, he is a Frenchman, she is a Frenchwoman.
    • Je suis un Français, il est un Français, elle est une Française.
    Académie française: rule for nationality: the exception

    when not to capitalize nationalities in French

    #4 Capitalizing rule: Do not capitalize nationalities in French when they are used as an adjective.

    In the example below, notice that the French nationality of Jean Louis and Isabelle are not capitalized because they are not used as a proper noun. They are used as an adjective so they are not capitalized.

    •  Jean Louis is French, and Isabelle is French
    • Jean Louis est français et Isabelle est française

    Here's one more example where the French nationality is used as an adjective.

    • I like French ladies
    • J'aime les femmes françaises.

    Recap of capitalisation and agreement rules for nationalities and languages

    So back to our original example as to why certain nationalities not always capitalized. 

    The French speak French with their French mothers in France.

    Les Français (#3) parlent français (#1) avec leurs maman françaises (#2,#4) en France.

    • Rule #1: When talking about languages. ⇒ LOWERCASE
    • Rule #2: Nationalities must agree with the gender of the subject. 
    • Rule #3: The adjective is used as a noun to refer to a person. We refer to the inhabitants of a country. ⇒ UPPERCASE
    • Rule #4: When nationality is used as an adjective. ⇒ LOWERCASE

    The French speak French with their French mothers in France.

    List of nationalities, countries, continents and territories with genders 

    On to the list.

    I have listed about 99 country names and nationalities in French. I've also listed the names of French territories and continents in French and English. 

    nationalities in masculin and feminine form (cheat Sheat)

    Making a nationality feminine is really simple.

    • If a country name ends in (-ais, -ois, or -ain): Add an (e) to the end. 
    • If a country name ends in (-en): Add (ne) to end.

    Masculine

    (m)

    Feminine

    (f)

    NATIONALITIES

    -ais

    -aise

    (français, française), (anglais, anglaise), (japonais, japonaise), etc.

    -ois

    -oise

    (chinois, chinoise), (suédois, suédoise), (danois, danoise, (québécois, québécoise), etc.

    -ain

    -aine

    (américain, américaine), (mexicain, mexicaine), (cubain, cubaine), etc.

    -en

    -enne

    (canadien, canadienne), (australien, australienne), etc.

    List of Countries And Nationalities In French with Genders
    ***Starts Here****

    MAP OF EU: Cyprus is part of EU

    EUROPE, EU, EEU, And EFTA Countries

    Remember, a countries gender never changes, it's either masculine or feminine. However, nationality has to match the gender of the thing it's describing, so they can be masculine or feminine, singularor plural and must use the correct definite article. Le, La, L', or Les 

    But some nationalities don't use an article such as Israel. 

    Example: I like Israel and Canada. would be written as "J'aime Israël et le Canada." Did you notice that there is no definite article in front of the country Israel but there is for Canada. 

    COUNTRY (EN)

    Country gender

    COUNTRY (FR)

    NATIONALITY (FR)

    Albania

    (f)

    l'Albanie

    Albanais(e)

    Andorra

    (microstate)

    (f)

    l'Andorre

    Andorran(e)

    Austria (EU)

    (f)

    l'Autriche

    Autrichien(ne)

    Belgium  (EU)

    (f)

    la Belgique

    *Belge

    Bulgaria  (EU)

    (f) 

    la Bulgarie

    *Bulgare

    Croatia (EU)

    (f)

    la Croatie

    *Croate

    Cyprus (EU)

    W Asia Continent

    (f) no article

    Chypre

    *Chypriote

    Czechoslovakia (EU)

    (f)

    la Tchécoslovaquie

    *Tchèque

    Denmark (EU)

    (m)

    le Danemark

    Danois(e)

    England

    (brexit)

    (f)

    l'Angleterre

    Je suis Anglais(e)

    Finland (EU)

    (f)

    la Finlande

    Finlandais(e)

    France (EU)

    (f)

    France

    Française(e)

    Germany (EU)

    (f)

    l'Allemagne

    Allemagne(e)

    Greece (EU)

    (f)

    la Grèce

    Grec(que)

    Hungary (EU)

    (f)

    Hongrie

    hongrois(e)

    Iceland (EEA) (EFTA)

    (f)

    Islande

    Islandais(e)

    Ireland (EU)

    (f)

    l'Irlande

    Irlandais(e)

    Italy (EU)

    (f)

    l'Italie

    Italien(ne)

    Latvia (EU)

    (f)

    la Lettonie

    Letton(ne)

    Liechtenstein (EEA) (EFTA)

    (m)

    le Liechtenstein

    Liechtensteinois(e)

    Lithuania (EU)

    (f)

    la Lituanie

    Lituanien(ne)

    Luxembourg (EU)

    (m)

    le Luxemburg

    Luxembourgeois(e)

    Malta (EU)

    (f) no article

    Malte

    Maltais(e)

    Monaco

    (microstate)

    (m) no article

    Monaco

    *Monégasque

    Netherlands (EU)

    aka (Holland)

    (m)

    les Pays-Bas

    Néerlandais(e)

    Norway (EEA) (EFTA)

    (f)

    la Norvège

    Norvégien(ne)

    Poland (EU)

    (f)

    le Pologne

    Polonais(e)

    Portugal (EU)

    (m)

    le Portugal

    Portugais(e)

    Romania (EU)

    (f)

    la Roumanie

    Roumain(e)

    Slovakia (EU)

    (f)

    la Slovaquie

    *Slovaque

    Slovenia (EU)

    (f) 

    la Slovénie

    *Slovène

    Spain (EU)

    (f) 

    l'Espagne

    Espagnol(e)

    Sweden (EU)

    (f)

    la Suède

    Suédois(e)

    Switzerland (EFTA)

    (f)

    la Suisse

    *Suisse

    Ukrane

    (f)

    l'Ukraine

    Ukrainien(ne)

    Vatican
    (microstate)

    (m)

     le Vatican

    Vatican(e)

    NORTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES

    COUNTRY (EN)

    Country gender

    COUNTRY (FR)

    NATIONALITY (FR)

    Canada

    (m) le

    Canada

    Canadien(ne)

    United States Of America

    (m) les

    États-Unis d'Amérique

    Américain(e)

    Mexico

    (m) le

    Mexique

    Mexicain(e)

    ASIA (South Eastern & Eastern)

    Nationalities with * take no article but have gender

    COUNTRY (EN)

    Country gender

    COUNTRY (FR)

    NATIONALITY (FR)

    India

    (f)

     l'Inde

    Indien(ne)

    Indonesia

    (f)

     l'Indonésie

    Indonésien(ne)

    China

    (f)

    la Chine

    Chinois(e)

    Malaysia

    (f)

    la Malaise

    Malais(e)

    Mongolia

    (f)

    la Mongolie

    *Mongole

    Myanmar

    (f)

    la Myanmar

    (or) Birmanie

    Myanmarais(e)

    Thailande

    (f)

    la Thaïlande

    Thaïlandais(e)

    Philippines

    (f)

    les Philippines

    *Philippine

    Brunei

    (m)

    le Brunéi

    Brunéien(ne)

    Cambodia

    (m)

    le Cambodge

    Cambodgien(ne)

    Japan

    (m)

    le Japon

    Japonais(e)

    Korea

    (m)

    le Corée

    Coréen(ne)

    Laos

    (m)

    le Laos

    Laotien(ne)

    Nepal

    (m)

    le Népal

    Népalais(e)

    Taiwan

    (m)

    le Taiwan

    Taïwanais(e)

    Vietnam

    (m)

    le Vietnam

    Vietnamien(ne)

    Singapore

    (m) No article

    Singapour

    Singapourien(ne)

    ASIA (Western)

    COUNTRY (EN)

    Country gender

    COUNTRY (FR)

    NATIONALITY (FR)

    Armenia

    (f) l'

    Arménie

    Arménien(ne)

    Saudi Arabia

    (f) l'

    Arabie saoudite

    Saoudien(ne)

    Georgia

    (f) la

    Géorgie

    Géorgien(ne)

    Jordan

    (f) la

    Jordanie

    Jordanien(ne)

    State of Palestine

    (f) la

    Palestine

    Palestinien(ne)

    Syria

    (f) la

    Syrie

    Syrien(ne)

    Turkey

    (f) la

    Turquie

    Turc
    Turque

    Azerbaijan

    (m) l'

    Azerbaïdjan

    Azerbaïdjanais(e)

    Iran

    (m) l'

    Iran

    Iranien(ne)

    Iraq

    (m) l'

    Irak

    Irakien(ne)

    Kuwait

    (m) le

    Koweït

    Koweïtien(ne)

    Lebanon

    (m) le

    Liban

    Libanais(e)

    Qatar

    (m) le

    Qatar

    Qatarien(ne)

    *sometimes Qatari

    Yemen

    (m) le

    Yémen

    *Yéménite

    United Arab Emirates

    (m) les

    Émirats arabes unis

    Émirien(ne)

    *sometimes Émirati

    Bahrain

    (m) No article

    Bahreïn

    Bahreïnien(ne)

    Israël

    (m) No article

    Israël

    Israélien(ne)

    Oman

    (m) No article

    Oman

    Omanais(e)

    NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES

    COUNTRY (EN)

    Country gender

    COUNTRY (FR)

    NATIONALITY (FR)

    Algeria

    (f) l'

    Algérie

    Algérien(ne)

    Egypt

    (f) l'

    Égypte

    Égyptien(ne)

    Libya

    (f) la

    Libye

    Libanais(e)

    Mauritania

    (f) la

    Mauritanie

    Mauritanien(ne)

    Tunisia

    (f) la

    Tunisie

    Tunisien(ne)

    Morocco

    (m) le

    Maroc

    Marocain(e)

    Sudan

    (m) le

    Soudan

    Soudanais(e)

    FRENCH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

    France d'outre-mer (DROM-COM)

    France has 13 distinct overseas territories. Only 11 have permanent populations.

    It's one of the reasons why, France has the most time zones in the world

    COUNTRY (EN)

    Country gender

    COUNTRY (FR)

    Note

    Clipperton Island

    (m) le

    Clipperton

    Uninhabited 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) ring-shaped coral reef in the eastern Pacific Ocean

    Guadeloupe

    (f) la

    Guadeloupe

    Island located in French Caribbean sea islands 577 km from Puerto Rico

    French Guiana

    (f) la

    Guyane

    In northern Atlantic coast of South America

    Martinique

    (f) la

    Martinique

    Island located in the Caribbean Sea. 714 km from Puerto Rico. 

    Mayotte

    (f) la

    Mayotte

    Island that is part of the Comoros archipelago off the coast of Africa

    New Caledonia

    (f) la

    Nouvelle-Calédonie

    Located 900 miles (1,500 km) east of Australia

    French Polynesia

    (f) la

    Polynésie française

    Located in the South Pacific Ocean halfway between California & Australia

    Réunion

    (f) la

    Réunion

    Island in the Indian Ocean about 900 km from Madagascar

    Saint Barthélemy

    (f) la

    Saint-Barthélemy

    Island in the Caribbean Sea about 400 from Puerto Rico

    Saint Martin

    (m) le

    Saint-Martin

    Island in the Caribbean Sea about 374 from Puerto Rico

    Saint Pierre And Miquelon

    (m) le

    Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon

    Off the coast of Newfoundland Canada

    French Southern And Antarctic Lands

    les

    Terres australes et antarctiques françaises

    No permanent residents: mainly seasonal military personnel, scientific researchers and support staff.

    Wallis and Futuna

    (m) le

    Wallis-et-Futuna

    3 main islands a number of tiny islets located 280 km northeast of Fiji. Geographically part of western Polynesia

    CONTINENTS

    ENGLISH

    FRENCH

    Africa

    l'Afrique (f)

    Asia

    l'Asie (f)

    America

    *North America

    **South America

    l'Amerique  (f)

    *l'Amérique du nord (f)

    **l'Amérique du sud (f)

    Antarctica

    l'Antartique (f)

    Europe

    l'Europe (f)

    Oceania

    l'Océanie (f)

    That's all folks. Good luck. 

    Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a 'petite commission' at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through my links. It helps me buy more wine and cheese. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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    Annie André

    Annie André

    About the author

    I'm Annie André, a bilingual North American with Thai and French Canadian roots. I've lived in France since 2011. When I'm not eating cheese, drinking wine or hanging out with my husband and children, I write articles on my personal blog annieandre.com for intellectually curious people interested in all things France: Life in France, travel to France, French culture, French language, travel and more.

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