Spanish flag

Lowercase nationalities and languages

English speakers are trained to capitalize words related to countries, languages, and nationalities. We write English, French, and Mexican with capital letters. In Spanish, however, these words are written with lowercase letters.

When you type words like español or francés, your phone or computer might try to auto-correct the first letter to a capital. You will need to change it back. This lowercase rule is a simple spelling habit, but it is one of the most common mistakes new learners make.

Word list
alemánmA1 German lowercase: alemán (hablar alemán) americanomA1 American lowercase: americano (un turista americano, also estadounidense) chinomA1 Chinese lowercase: chino (hablar chino) españolmA1 Spanish lowercase: español (hablar español) estadounidenseA1 American lowercase: estadounidense (americano or norteamericano) europeomA1 European lowercase: europeo francésmA1 French lowercase: francés inglésmA1 English lowercase: inglés (el inglés = the English language) italianomA1 Italian lowercase: italiano (el italiano) africanomA2 African lowercase: africano árabeA2 Arabic lowercase: árabe asiáticomA2 Asian lowercase: asiático australianomA2 Australian lowercase: australiano brasileñomA2 Brazilian lowercase: brasileño (or brasilero) brasileromA2 Brazilian lowercase: brasilero (variant of brasileño, música brasilera) británicomA2 British lowercase: británico canadienseA2 Canadian lowercase: canadiense holandésmA2 Dutch lowercase: holandés (queso holandés, hablar holandés) indiomA2 Indian lowercase: indio japonésmA2 Japanese lowercase: japonés mexicanomA2 Mexican lowercase: mexicano neerlandésmA2 Dutch lowercase: neerlandés (or holandés) norteamericanomA2 North American lowercase: norteamericano portuguésmA2 Portuguese lowercase: portugués rusomA2 Russian lowercase: ruso sudamericanomA2 South American lowercase: sudamericano (or suramericano) suramericanomA2 South American lowercase: suramericano (variant of sudamericano, países suramericanos) argentinomB1 Argentinian lowercase: argentino belgaB1 Belgian lowercase: belga coreanomB1 Korean lowercase: coreano egipciomB1 Egyptian lowercase: egipcio griegomB1 Greek lowercase: griego irlandésmB1 Irish lowercase: irlandés latinoamericanomB1 Latin American lowercase: latinoamericano madrileñomB1 Madrilenian lowercase: madrileño (regional adjective) suizomB1 Swiss lowercase: suizo turcomB1 Turkish lowercase: turco austriacomB2 Austrian lowercase: austriaco (or austriaca) catalánmB2 Catalan lowercase: catalán checomB2 Czech lowercase: checo chilenomB2 Chilean lowercase: chileno colombianomB2 Colombian lowercase: colombiano danésmB2 Danish lowercase: danés (hablar danés, un diseño danés) escocésmB2 Scottish lowercase: escocés eslavomB2 Slavic lowercase: eslavo euskeraB2 Basque lowercase: euskera (language, also vasco) finlandésmB2 Finnish lowercase: finlandés (or finés) gallegomB2 Galician lowercase: gallego húngaromB2 Hungarian lowercase: húngaro indonesiomB2 Indonesian lowercase: indonesio latínmB2 Latin lowercase: latín (language name only) norcoreanomB2 North Korean lowercase: norcoreano noruegomB2 Norwegian lowercase: noruego peruanomB2 Peruvian lowercase: peruano polacomB2 Polish lowercase: polaco sudafricanomB2 South African lowercase: sudafricano suecomB2 Swedish lowercase: sueco surcoreanomB2 South Korean lowercase: surcoreano vascomB2 Basque lowercase: vasco (la cocina vasca) búlgaromC1 Bulgarian lowercase: búlgaro croataC1 Croatian lowercase: croata dinamarquésmC1 Danish lowercase: dinamarqués (or danés) escandinavomC1 Scandinavian lowercase: escandinavo finésmC1 Finnish lowercase: finés (variant of finlandés, el finés) galésmC1 Welsh lowercase: galés rumanomC1 Romanian lowercase: rumano ucranianomC1 Ukrainian lowercase: ucraniano (or ucranio) ucraniomC1 Ukrainian lowercase: ucranio (less common variant of ucraniano) soviéticomC2 Soviet lowercase: soviético (el ejército soviético)
Naming languages

Naming a language in Spanish is quite simple. The language name is usually just the masculine singular form of the nationality adjective. The most important rule to remember is that it never gets a capital letter in the middle of a sentence.

Hablo español e inglés con mi familia.
(I speak Spanish and English with my family.)
Mi hermano estudia alemán.
(My brother studies German.)

Sometimes you use the definite article el before the language, especially when it is the subject of a sentence. However, when you use verbs like hablar, estudiar, or aprender, the article is usually dropped.

El francés es un idioma hermoso.
(French is a beautiful language.)
Me gusta mucho el japonés.
(I like Japanese a lot.)
Nationalities and regions

Adjectives that describe where a person, object, or food comes from follow the exact same lowercase rule. This applies whether the word describes a continent, a country, or a city.

Comemos pizza italiana los viernes.
(We eat Italian pizza on Fridays.)
Mi vecino estadounidense tiene un coche mexicano.
(My American neighbor has a Mexican car.)
El museo madrileño tiene muchas pinturas famosas.
(The Madrilenian museum has many famous paintings.)

These adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender and number, but they always keep their lowercase starting letter.

El continente africano es enorme.
(The African continent is enormous.)
Watch out

While most language names double as nationality adjectives, a few do not. For example, latín and euskera are languages that do not act as typical nationality adjectives. Despite this difference, they still follow the strict lowercase rule.

Muchos textos antiguos están escritos en latín.
(Many ancient texts are written in Latin.)
La gente en el norte de España habla euskera.
(People in the north of Spain speak Basque.)

Finally, do not forget basic punctuation rules. If a nationality or language happens to be the very first word in a sentence, you must capitalize it. Otherwise, keep it lowercase.

Summary

In Spanish, adjectives of nationality and names of languages are always lowercase. Whether you are describing a Mexican restaurant, studying the German language, or talking to a French friend, keep that first letter small.