Nationality Words (-lane)

Level 1

A person from a country or town is named with -lane: eestlane (an Estonian), soomlane (a Finn), tallinlane (someone from Tallinn).

How It Works

Many words for people end in -lane. Added to the name of a country or place, it means 'a person from there':

  • Eesti → eestlane, Soome → soomlane, Rootsi → rootslane, Läti → lätlane, Venemaa → venelane, Saksamaa → sakslane
  • Tallinn → tallinlane, Tartu → tartlane, Saaremaa → saarlane

The part before -lane is not always the full country name, so learn each word on its own: inglane (English person), prantslane, ameeriklane, hiinlane, türklane. Some towns also have an everyday alternative, such as pärnakas next to pärnulane for someone from Pärnu.

Keep three words apart:

  • Eesti, with a capital letter, is the country.
  • eesti, with a small letter, describes things: eesti keel (the Estonian language), eesti toit (Estonian food).
  • eestlane, with a small letter, is the person: Ma olen eestlane.

Estonian has no grammatical gender, so eestlane is used for men and women. A special feminine form (eestlanna) exists, but you do not need it.

The ending changes like other -ne words: eestlane, eestlase, eestlast, plural eestlased. With a plural subject, the -lane word is plural too: Me oleme eestlased.

Examples (6)

  1. Ma olen eestlane.

    I am Estonian.

  2. Me oleme eestlased.

    We are Estonians.

    A plural subject needs the plural eestlased.

  3. Minu naaber on soomlane.

    My neighbour is a Finn.

  4. Ta on tartlane, aga elab nüüd Tallinnas.

    She is from Tartu, but now she lives in Tallinn.

    Tartlane is a person from Tartu.

  5. Kas sa oled venelane või lätlane?

    Are you Russian or Latvian?

  6. Paljud soomlased käivad Tallinnas.

    Many Finns visit Tallinn.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the adjective instead of the person word.

    Ma olen eesti.
    Ma olen eestlane.

    Eesti on its own describes things, as in eesti keel. To say what someone is, use the person word eestlane.

  • Starting a nationality word with a capital letter.

    Ta on Soomlane.
    Ta on soomlane.

    Only the country name has a capital letter: Soome. The person word soomlane starts with a small letter.

  • Keeping the singular with a plural subject.

    Nad on rootslane.
    Nad on rootslased.

    The -lane word agrees with the subject, so several people are rootslased.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Nationality Words (-lane)Level 1

Words in This Pattern

-lane