Where Are You From? — Essere + Nationalities

To say where you're from, Italian uses essere (to be) — same verb you'd use for 'I am tired' or 'I am happy'. The question is 'Di dove sei?', literally 'Of where are you?'.

Di dove sei? — Sono di Teheran, e tu?

Where are you from? — I'm from Tehran, and you?

Nationality words change with gender

This is one place Persian and English speakers both need to pay attention: nationality adjectives ending in -o become -a for women. Sono italiano (a man says) vs. Sono italiana (a woman says).

italiano / italiana — Italian
americano / americana — American
iraniano / iraniana — Iranian
inglese / inglese — English (same for both!)

Vocabulary in this lesson

di dove sei?
where are you from?
Di dove sei esattamente?
sono di…
I'm from…
Sono di Milano.
italiano / italiana
Italian (m/f)(masculine)
Marco è italiano.
iraniano / iraniana
Iranian (m/f)(masculine)
Sara è iraniana.

Check yourself

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A woman says she's Iranian. Which is correct?

How do you ask 'where are you from?'

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