You are already aware of the proper nouns in English Grammar. Proper nouns are those words which are capitalized and typically be people’s name, cities, countries, brand names and days of weeks or month names. Now you might be wondering as to what are proper adjectives.
What are Proper Adjectives?
The proper adjectives are formed out of the proper nouns and they are also capitalized. You can see that these are formed out of the names of cities, countries or regions. It can also come from the names of the religion, individuals or brands.
Proper adjectives are also used to modify the nouns. But they are slightly different from other adjectives. This is the difference is due to the actual formation of adjectives from the nouns. A noun is something that is used for the person, place, or thing. It will also help you to distinguish between common nouns and proper nouns.
How to Form Proper Adjectives
We would be beginning with proper nouns once again. The proper nouns are those words that would be referring to the particular people, places or things. Now, for example, the Author is a noun, but James Bond is a proper noun. Similarly, the country is a noun whereas India is a proper noun. You could also say that a Proper noun is the origin of Proper adjectives.
Moreover, the word Indian is a proper adjective for the proper noun, India. You would be glad to know that just like proper nouns, the proper adjectives are also capitalized.
There is another aspect of Proper Adjective, where the words are used to describe something. Now, this is similar to some of the regular adjectives. But the proper adjectives are being more specific. You will have to be careful about the sentences that make use of proper adjective and they have to be more succinct. In this way, it will be more helpful to build a good vocabulary and then directly describe all the things.
Examples of Proper Adjectives for Countries
Following is a big list of proper adjectives used for different countries and cities along with their use in sentences.
| Proper Noun | Proper Adjective | Example Sentence |
| Africa | African | Jumbo was a famous African elephant. |
| Alaska | Alaskan | I just love to eat Alaskan salmon. |
| Alps | Alpine | We need an Alpine guide, please. |
| Amazon | Amazonian | They cut their way through the Amazonian rainforest. |
| Antarctica | Antarctic | Nothing could prepare them for the ferocity of the Antarctic winds. |
| Armenia | Armenian | I speak no Armenian, but even I could tell that she was telling him that he’d put too much cheese on |
| Asia | Asian | How many Asian countries have you visited? |
| Atlantis (fictional) | Atlantean | He built an Atlantean castle for himself. |
| Australia | Australian | Victor is an Australian player. |
| Bali | Balinese | They scanned the Balinese skyline. |
| Barcelona | Barcelonian | This is one of many Barcelonian traditions. |
| Brazil | Brazilian | I have a Brazilian boss. |
| Britain | British | My teacher is British. |
| Bulgaria | Bulgarian | It was concluded also that 100bn cubic meters of natural gas could be transited via Bulgarian territory annually. |
| China | Chinese | Let’s go to a Chinese restaurant. |
| Costa Rica | Costa Rican | What are the Costa Rican beaches like? |
| Denmark | Danish | Mr. Ban acknowledged the Danish wind market leader responsible for brainstorming the innovative program, Vestas Wind Systems. |
| Finland | Finnish | We go to an exhibit of the history of Finnish shoe design and manufacture, which is less than inspiring. |
| Greenland | Greenlandic | The people of Greenland speak Greenlandic, a language that is similar to the one spoken by native Canadian people. |
| Himalayas | Himalayan | Have you ever experienced a Himalayan winter? |
| Iceland | Icelandic | An Icelandic horse, capable of maintaining significant speed over lava fields and sheet ice, couldn’t stay upright on asphalt. |
| India | Indian | Jay is an Indian player. |
| Iraq | Iraqi | The absence of an Iraqi government was a source of bitterness and misgivings. |
| Ireland | Irish | She saw him turn to a Lord near him, his Irish brogue fainter than it had been years before due to years of tutoring under English professors. |
| Israel | Israeli | The EU does fund a program for Israeli, Jordanian, Irish, and British football coaches, as part of the Football 4 Peace project. |
| Italy | Italian | My brother likes Italian cuisine. |
| Japan | Japanese | Japanese cars are wonderful. |
| Kentucky | Kentuckian | He uses a Kentuckian rifle. |
| Korea | Korean | At a shop in a newly built Chinese customs office building, Russian dolls, Korean carrots, and other souvenirs were sold. |
| Lebanon | Lebanese | The most common scams we know is the Lebanese Loop. |
| Mexico | Mexican | Mexican cuisine is an incredible dish. |
| Morocco | Moroccan | Went for a 6 am hammam, the Moroccan Turkish bath, taken twice daily by locals and incorporating sauna, wash and massage in one. |
| Norden | Nordic | Inline skating, Nordic skiing, and skate skiing are surefire ways to create definition in your buns and legs. |
| Pakistan | Pakistani | She has no time for the traditional view of Pakistani women spending their life tied to the family home. |
| Portugal | Portuguese | The most renowned is Fado, melancholy urban music originated in Lisbon, usually associated with the Portuguese guitar and Saudade, or longing. |
| Scotland | Scottish | The Jacobites believed that parliamentary interference with the line of succession to the English and Scottish thrones was illegal. |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi | The physical and social sciences are all taught in Saudi Arabian universities, which exist in all the main cities. |
| Serbia | Serbian | He was a Serbian baseball player. |
| Spain | Spanish | As Hispanic Americans and Spanish speakers, we are, also, Indo-European and Afro-American. |
| Sudan | Sudanese | Like most of the Bantu people, the Fangs belong to the Congo racial type of the Black African race, with some Sudanese contributions. |
| Texas | Texan | Texan English is different from conventional English. |
| United Arab Emirates (UAE) | Emirati | A 15-year-old boy has become the youngest Emirati to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. |
| Vietnam | Vietnamese | The conventional Vietnamese wisdom was that certain foods were low-class, common food, even though these foods were nutritious. |
| Yemen | Yemeni | Without vaulting or trusses, Yemeni traditional architecture had to rely on the usable length of palm, acacia or tamarisk trunks for spans. |
Phew!, that was a long list… But in the process of reading those examples you must have observed that proper adjectives are among the easiest to recognize. You should use them for specific descriptions in your writing.
Conclusion:
Proper adjective finds their application in a metaphorical sense as well. In the academic section, you would often find words that are formed by the proper names of important thinkers. It is always helpful to get an indication in certain ways. With this concluding part, we hope that you would have achieved a good understanding of the proper adjectives. If you still have any confusion you can get back to us through our comment section. Till then stay tuned.