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Which one is correct? I am quite sure about "I'm Spanish", but is it wrong if I add an "a" before "Spanish"?

Mari-Lou A
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user57409
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6 Answers6

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Spanish is an adjective, so no article. A Spanish man is a Spaniard. Note that for many other nationalities, the form of the adjective and the noun is the same:

  • American, an American
  • German, a German
  • Italian, an Italian
  • Russian, a Russian
  • Chinese, a Chinese
  • Japanese, a Japanese
  • Greek, a Greek

I have a feeling that for most nationalities the adjective and the noun have the same form, and only in a few cases are the forms of the adjective and noun distinct, e.g.:

  • Danish, a Dane
  • English, an Englishman
  • French, a Frenchman
  • Irish, an Irishman
  • Scottish, a Scot(sman)
  • Spanish, a Spaniard
  • Welsh, a Welshman
Mario Elocio
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  • Thanks.. I didn't know Spanish is an adjective. I thought it is a nationality or something like that. – user57409 Nov 22 '13 at 15:29
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    Astute souls will notice that the irregular ones -- even of the form "adjective-man" -- tend to be countries close to England. – Mary Aug 02 '20 at 15:06
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Yes, adding an "a" before Spanish, would be wrong. That could be reworded as I'm a Spaniard. See http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/spaniard?q=Spaniard

Tristan
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"Spanish" is an adjective, not a noun. You cannot use either an indefinite article with it. You can say:

  • I am Spanish
  • I am a Spaniard

However, the two sentences are not equivalent. The first implies descent, while the second implies citizenship or nationality. I could very easily be of English descent, and yet be a Spaniard, if I changed my citizenship, for example.

Cyberherbalist
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  • According to the definition here http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/Spaniard , a Spaniard is someone from Spain. It says nothing about citizenship or nationality. – Tristan Nov 14 '13 at 23:30
  • Spanish (n) 2. (used with a pl. verb) The people of Spain. AHD – Edwin Ashworth Nov 14 '13 at 23:52
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    Oh, I don't know, @Tristan. If I say I am a Spaniard, I do expect that most people will regard me as a Spanish citizen or national -- until I disabuse them of the error, if error there be. Just as my saying I am an American they would expect me to be a US citizen. – Cyberherbalist Nov 15 '13 at 00:45
  • Yes @EdwinAshworth, I know. But as used in the question, it is an adjective. At least that is my understanding of its use in the sentence: "I am Spanish", is short for "I am a Spanish person". Cf. "I am sick." "I am well." "Spanish" as a noun would be used differently, like "The Spanish speak Spanish, mostly." – Cyberherbalist Nov 15 '13 at 00:51
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    Given we're on a site specifically concerned with *English, I think it's only reasonable to suppose we should give priority to the preconceptions of the average native-speaking Anglophone. Regardless of any supposed legal definition (which I'm sure doesn't exist anyway), most of us would agree your're an Englishman or a Spaniard by birth*. But there's a global context/history with people becoming "Americanised", so it's not a valid comparison. – FumbleFingers Nov 15 '13 at 02:23
  • I don't see why Spanish and Spaniard would be any different from English and Englishman or French and Frenchman. If you call yourself an Englishman, you're from England. If you say you're English, ditto. If your great great grandfather was English and you were born in Belgium, you'd be neither an Englishman nor English but someone of English descent. Why do you feel that Spanish/Spaniard are different? – terdon Nov 15 '13 at 03:40
  • Cyberherbalist, considering that the definition of a Spaniard is someone from Spain, it would not make much sense for someone who comes from another land, to call themselves a Spaniard, if they became a citizen of Spain. In that case, they could say that they are a Spanish citizen or Spanish http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/spanish_1?q=Spanish – Tristan Nov 15 '13 at 14:17
  • My brain just exploded reading these comments. "Spanish" in the usage of the OP is a bloody adjective. No adjective takes the indefinite article; using "Spanish" with the definite article means it is being used as a plural noun. And you can't freaking say "I am a Spanish" or "I am the Spanish" (unless you have multiple personality disorder(. Stop arguing with me! I'm right! Just admit it and move on the next question. :-) – Cyberherbalist Nov 15 '13 at 22:19
  • Wow, that was an undignified comment! – Tristan Nov 16 '13 at 00:36
  • Didn't see the smiley, I guess, @Tristan. It was a very undignified comment. By intention. I was having fun after getting many downvotes on a number of different questions that day. Please don't hold it against me. I don't really think I'm unequivocally right -- just probably right. :-) <-- Smiley. – Cyberherbalist Nov 18 '13 at 17:07
  • @EdwinAshworth "The people of Spain" means a collective. One can refer to how the Spanish or the English are coping with the epidemic without making it correct to refer to a single individual as such. – Mary Aug 02 '20 at 15:09
  • @Mary But the answerer fails to point this out. An unqualified ' "Spanish" is an adjective, not a noun' is at best misleading. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 02 '20 at 15:39
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Spanish is an adjective. You cannot call yourself an adjective (with an "a" or "an" or "the"). You must find a noun form, and in this case, the noun is Spaniard.

Jonathan Spirit
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There is a usage of the national denonymic adjectives (that is, words like Spanish, Dutch, Irish) as a noun, that is sometimes found.

However, it's (thankfully) rare, and generally sounds patronising at best, if not down-right rude.

Don't use denonym adjectives as nouns, as you may sound not just grammatically incorrect, but rudely xenophobic.

(Of course, the cases where the adjective and noun match okay, like Australian, German, etc.)

Jon Hanna
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"Spanish" is an adjective.

There are results of "I am a Spanish...", but there must be something following, such as "I am a Spanish teacher/man/etc.."

You can say "I am Spanish", without an article and without something following.

"Spaniard" is a demonym, always with an article. "I am a Spaniard." and nothing following.

When the adjective form and the demonym are in the same form, the article can either appear, in the case of demonym, or be absent, in the case of adjective, and the two options mean the same, such as "I am a Chinese" or "I am Chinese", thought there are subtile differences between them.

Here you have a list over the whole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectival_and_demonymic_forms_for_countries_and_nations

Decapitated Soul
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wodemingzi
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