Federal States of Germany and Nationalities in German

One of the nice things for natives to hear from foreigners is the names of their country in their language. They are even more impressed when you can pronounce their cities correctly. The following list includes an audio pronunciation of cities and Bundeslà ¤nder in Germany as well as neighboring countries from Europe. Scroll down to see how your or other countries, nationalities and languages sound in German.   Die alten Bundeslà ¤nder (the old German States)   Capital Schleswig-Holstein-KielNiedersachsen-Hannover  (Hanover)Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)-Dà ¼sseldorfHessen (Hesse)-WiesbadenRheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)-MainzBaden-Wà ¼rttemberg-StuttgartSaarland-Saarbrà ¼ckenBayern (Bavaria)- Mà ¼nchen  (Munich)   Die neuen Bundeslà ¤nder (the new German States) Capital Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)-SchwerinBrandenburg-PotsdamThà ¼ringen (Thuringia)-ErfurtSachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt)-MagdeburgSachsen (Saxony)-Dresden Die Stadtstaaten (city states) Those are cities and at the same time federal states. Berlin and Bremen struggle with their finances while in Hamburg youll find the most millionaires in Germany. It still has some remarkably high debts. Berlin-BerlinBremen-BremenHamburg-Hamburg   Other German-Speaking Countries Ãâ€"sterreich-Wien (Vienna)  (click here for a sample of their  language)Die Schweiz-Bern (click here for a sample of their  language) Andere Europà ¤ische Là ¤nder (other European countries) If you  take a closer look at the following nationalities you will notice that there are mainly two large groups of words: those ending in -er (m) / -erin (f) and those ending in -e (m) / -in (f). There are only very few exceptions like e.g. der Israeli / die Israelin (not to be mistaken for der Israelit, as that was biblical folk. The name of the German nationality is quite special it behaves like an adjective. Take a look: der Deutsche / die Deutsche / die Deutschen (plural) BUTein Deutscher / eine Deutsche / Deutsche (plural) Luckily it seems to be the only one behaving like this.  Almost all names of languages end in -(i)sch in German. An exception would be: das Hindi Land/ Country Brger/ Citizenmale/ female Sprache/ Language Deutschland der Deutsche/ die Deutsche Deutsch die Schweiz der Schweizer/ die Schweizerin Deutsch (Switzerdtsch) sterreich der sterreicher/ die sterreicherin Deutsch (Bairisch) Frankreich der Franzose/ die Franzsin Franzsisch Spanien der Spanier/ die Spanierin Spanisch England der Englnder/ die Englnderin Englisch Italien der Italiener/ die Italienerin Italienisch Portugal der Portugiese/ die Portugiesin Portugiesisch Belgien der Belgier/ die Belgierin Belgisch die Niederlande der Niederlnder/ die Niederlnderin Niederlndisch Dnemark der Dne/ die Dnin Dnisch Schweden der Schwede/ die Schwedin Schwedisch Finnland der Finne/ die Finnin Finnisch Norwegen der Norweger/ die Norwegerin Norwegisch Griechenland der Grieche/ die Griechin Griechisch die Trkei der Trke/ die Trkin Trkisch Polen der Pole/ die Polin Polnisch Tschechien/ die Tschechische Republik der Tscheche/ die Tschechin Tschechisch Ungarn der Ungar/ die Ungarin Ungarisch Ukraine der Ukrainer/ die Ukrainerin Ukrainisch The Awful German Article You might also have noticed that certain countries use the article while most others dont. In general every country in neuter (e.g. das Deutschland) but that das is almost never used. An exception would be if you spoke of a country at a specific time: Das Deutschland der Achtziger Jahre. (the Germany of the eighties). Other than that you wouldnt use the das which is actually the same way youd use a countrys name in English.   Those who use a different article than das always (!) use their article. Luckily those are only a few. Here are some more known ones: DER:  der Irak, der Iran, der Libanon, der Sudan, der TschadDIE  :  die Schweiz, die Pfalz, die Tà ¼rkei, die Europà ¤ische Union, die Tschechei, die MongoleiDIE  Plural:  die Vereinigten Staaten  (the United States),  die USA, die Niederlande, die Philippinen This might get a bit irritating for you because as soon as you want to say that you come from one of these countries the article will change. An example: Die Tà ¼rkei ist ein schà ¶nes Land. BUT   Ich komme aus der Tà ¼rkei. This is due to the word aus in front of the article which requires the dative case. Edited on the 25th of June 2015 by: Michael Schmitz