Students of Different Countries, Nationalities, and Languages

Konu Anlatımı

Talking About Origin and Nationality

When you meet a student from another country, the first question is almost always the same: Where are you from? The short answer is a country name: I am from Turkey. The longer version uses come from: I come from Brazil, but I live in Ankara now. Remember the difference clearly, because students often confuse it. From tells us the place of origin and in tells us the place where somebody lives at the moment. I am from Italy and I live in Rome are both correct, but I live from Rome is not.

• be from / come from + country or city of origin: I am from Greece. She is from Thessaloniki.
• live in + city or country of residence: They live in Athens. We live in Turkey.
• be from and come from have exactly the same meaning, so you may use either one in an answer.

Country, Nationality and Language

English uses three different kinds of word to describe a person and a place, and each kind has its own job. A country name is a noun, such as Turkey, Japan or Poland. A nationality is an adjective, such as Turkish, Japanese or Polish, and it always begins with a capital letter. A language is also used like an adjective or a noun, such as Turkish, Japanese or Polish, but it follows the verb speak. A very useful classroom pattern is: People in + country + speak + language. People in Turkey speak Turkish. People in Switzerland speak German, French and Italian.

Some countries take the definite article in English while most of them do not. We say the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands, but we simply say Turkey, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, China, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt and Australia. Notice also that a nationality adjective is never used with the definite article when it describes only the nationality: She is Turkish, not She is the Turkish.

Classroom Language You Can Use

Talking about the students in your own class is very easy. He is Japanese, so he speaks Japanese at home, but he uses English in our lessons. Our teacher is Italian and she is from Rome. A German student and a Turkish student are doing a project together. Notice that when a plural noun follows, the nationality adjective does not take an ending: a Japanese student, two Japanese students, an Egyptian friend, three Egyptian friends. In the same way, the subject-verb agreement rule is normal: two Japanese students are in the same class, but one Japanese student is in 9A.

• be + nationality: I am Turkish. They are Egyptian.
• speak + language: She speaks Greek and a little English.
• in + language is also possible: My cousin lives in France and studies in French.
• learn / study + language: We learn German and we study English at school.

Comparing Students Around the World

Comparatives are extremely useful when you describe your new classmates or compare two schools. For a short adjective we add the ending -er, and for a longer adjective we use more before the whole word. Turkey is a bigger country than Japan. English is more difficult for me than geography is. We never use more with a short adjective, so it is not correct to say more big; the correct comparative is bigger. The opposite of more difficult is more interesting, and German is more popular than Italian in our school.

When you want to say that two things are the same, use as plus an adjective: My sister is as tall as my brother. This structure is also very common in our English class, because we often compare our school subjects: The first lesson is as interesting as the last one, and geography is not as easy as we thought.

Summary

In this topic we learned how to talk about where a student comes from, which country he or she belongs to and which languages are spoken there. The three words country, nationality and language must never be mixed up: Japan is a country, a person is Japanese and the language is also Japanese. For origin we use be from or come from, for residence we use live in, and for a nationality we use be plus the adjective. Languages always follow the verb speak in the pattern People in a country speak a language. Remember that nationality adjectives and language names begin with a capital letter, that most countries take no article, that a plural subject takes are, and that short adjectives form comparatives with -er while longer ones use more.

Common Mistakes

• Writing I live from Rome. The correct form is I live in Rome, because from shows origin and in shows residence.
• Writing I am Turkish student without an article. We say I am a Turkish student before a singular countable noun.
• Writing People speaks Turkish in Turkey. The subject people is plural, so the verb must be speak without an ending.
• Using a country name as a nationality: She is Japan is wrong; the correct sentence is She is Japanese.
• Writing more big instead of the comparative form bigger, because big is a short adjective and short adjectives never take more.

Sample Question and Solution

Question: Sara is Turkish and she lives in Ankara. Her brother studies in Berlin. Which sentence is correct?
a) Sara is a Turkey student. b) Sara is a Turkish student. c) Sara is Turkey. d) Sara is student a Turkish.

Solution: The correct answer is b). A nationality is an adjective, and an adjective that comes before a singular countable noun needs the article a first, so a Turkish student is the right order. Option a) is wrong because a country name cannot describe a person. Option c) is wrong for the same reason, because Sara is not the country itself. Option d) is wrong because English puts the adjective before the noun and never after it. Therefore the best sentence about Sara is Sara is a Turkish student.

Ne Öğreneceğiz

In this topic we learn how to talk about the students in our class: where they come from, which country they belong to and which languages they speak. We practise the difference between be from, come from and live in, and we use country, nationality and language adjectives correctly with capital letters. Bu konuda ögrenme çıktıları:

• To ask and answer questions about a student's origin with Where are you from? and Which country do you come from?
• To use be from, come from and live in correctly and to explain the difference between them
• To distinguish a country name, a nationality adjective and a language name
• To form sentences such as People in a country speak a language with the present simple
• To use be plus a nationality with singular and plural subjects
• To compare two students, two languages or two countries with comparatives
• To use the definite article correctly with the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands

Ön Bilgi

Bu konuya başlamadan önce temel kavram ve ön koşulları kavramanız yardımcı olacaktır. Konunun çerçevesinde şu kavramlar dikkat ister:

• From shows where somebody comes from, and in shows where somebody lives now. These two prepositions are never used in the same way.
• A country name is a noun, but a nationality and a language are adjectives, so only the adjectives describe a person.
• Nationality adjectives and language names always begin with a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence.
• People is plural, so the correct verb is speak, and the be verb with a plural subject is are.
• Most country names take no article, but the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands are exceptions.
• A short adjective takes -er for the comparative, while a long adjective takes more before the whole word.
• When two singular subjects are joined by and, the verb is plural, so two Japanese students are in the same class.
• One language is used with the verb speak or learn, so we say People in Brazil speak Portuguese.

Basit Örnek ve Günlük Yaşam

Günlük yaşamda ve mesleki bağlamda bir uygulama:

Soru: Emilio ___ from Argentina, but he ___ in Spain now.

1. Step 1: Both blanks describe a fact that is true now, so the present simple is the right tense in both cases.
2. Step 2: The first blank needs an origin pattern, and the pattern for origin is come from with the base form of the verb.
3. Step 3: The subject Emilio is third person singular, so the verb comes takes the ending -s.
4. Step 4: The second blank needs a residence pattern, and the pattern for residence is live in with the base form of the verb.
5. Step 5: Because the subject is the same singular person, the second verb also takes the ending -s.

Sonuç/cevap: comes / lives

İleri Örnek

Daha ileri bir uygulama:

Soru: Choose the correct sentence: My new friend is from (the Japan / Japan / the Japanese).

1. Step 1: Decide what the blank describes. It describes the place a person comes from.
2. Step 2: A country name after from normally takes no article in English.
3. Step 3: The third option is an adjective, so it cannot follow the preposition from in this pattern.
4. Step 4: Check the word Japan itself: it begins with a consonant sound, so no definite article is possible here.
5. Step 5: Read the final sentence and remember that the exception list is short: the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands.

Sonuç/cevap: My new friend is from Japan.

Adım Adım Çözülmüş Örnek

Example 1: Origin and Residence konusunun adımları:

1. Step 1: Both blanks describe a fact that is true now, so the present simple is the right tense in both cases.
2. Step 2: The first blank needs an origin pattern, and the pattern for origin is come from with the base form of the verb.
3. Step 3: The subject Emilio is third person singular, so the verb comes takes the ending -s.
4. Step 4: The second blank needs a residence pattern, and the pattern for residence is live in with the base form of the verb.
5. Step 5: Because the subject is the same singular person, the second verb also takes the ending -s.

Karşılaştırma Tablosu

Sık Yapılan Hatalar

Using from with the verb live. Students write I live from Rome, but in English from shows origin, so the correct sentence is I live in Rome.

Leaving out the article before a nationality noun. I am Turkish student is incomplete, because an adjective before a singular countable noun needs the indefinite article first.

Adding an ending to the verb after a plural subject. People speaks Turkish is wrong, since the plural subject people takes the base form of the verb.

Using a country name as a nationality. She is Japan cannot describe a person, because a nationality must be an adjective such as Japanese.

Forming a comparative with more and a short adjective. More big is never correct, because a short adjective builds its comparative with the ending -er on its own.

Writing a nationality or a language in lower case. Turkish and English always begin with a capital letter, even when they stand in the middle of a sentence.

Özet

This topic focuses on students from different countries. We practise be from and come from for origin, live in for residence and be plus a nationality for belonging to a country. Students learn to tell a country name, a nationality and a language apart, to use the pattern People in a country speak a language, to keep nationality and language words capitalised, and to compare two countries, languages or classmates with comparatives and with as. They also learn that most countries take no article, while the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands do.

Kendini Dene

Soru: Write a short text of six or seven sentences about a student you know from another country. Give his or her country, nationality, capital city, language and one comparison with your own country.

Örnek cevap: Puanlama anahtarı: Öğrencinin ülkeyi ve uyruk sıfatını doğru adlandırması ve İngilizce'de gerekli büyük harfleri kullanması 4 puan; başkenti ve dili doğru vermesi 4 puan; be from, come from veya live in kalıplarından en az birini doğru kurması 4 puan; People in a country speak a language ya da He speaks two languages gibi bir dil kalıbı kullanması 4 puan; kendi ülkesiyle bir karşılaştırma cümlesi kurması ve karşılaştırma biçimini doğru seçmesi 4 puan. Toplam 20 puan.