Nationalities

Where someone is from

To give someone's nationality, use ser + a nationality adjective: Ella es mexicana. Spanish capitalizes country names — México, Colombia — but nationality adjectives are always lowercase: mexicano, never Mexicano.

From country to nationality

Most nationality adjectives are built from the country name and end in -o:

CountryHe is...She is...
México
Mexican
mexicano
mexicana
Colombia
Colombian
colombiano
colombiana
Perú
Peruvian
peruano
peruana
Chile
Chilean
chileno
chilena
Argentina
Argentinian
argentino
argentina
Cuba
Cuban
cubano
cubana
Brasil
Brazilian
brasileño
brasileña

These agree like any other -o adjective: -o for a man, -a for a woman, and -s for more than one person — mexicanos, mexicanas. Note brasileño, with the ñ you know from niño.

She is Mexican and lives in Mexico.
Ella es mexicana y vive en México.

One form for everyone: -ense

The adjective for the United States (Estados Unidos) is estadounidense. Adjectives in -ense are invariable, like inteligente or amable: one form for both genders, adding only -s in the plural.

American (US)
estadounidense
They are American, but they speak Spanish.
Ellas son estadounidenses, pero hablan español.

In Latin America, estadounidense is the precise word for people from the United States — América is the whole continent, so americano can mean anyone from it.

Asking about it

The noun is la nacionalidad. Ask directly with ¿Cuál es...?, or ask where someone is from with ¿De dónde...? + ser:

the nationality
la nacionalidad
What is your nationality?
¿Cuál es tu nacionalidad?
Where is she from? She is Colombian.
¿De dónde es ella? Es colombiana.