американец
amerikanets
The Russian word for American is американец (amerikanets).
The word refers to a person born in or a citizen of the United States. When you want to refer specifically to an American person, use the noun forms such as американец rather than the adjective американский, which is used to describe things like American culture or American cars.
Meaning: of or pertaining to the U.S., its people or its culture (adj)
Which one should you use?
Use the noun forms like американец when referring to an American person, but use the adjective американский when describing things related to the U.S., such as 'American culture'.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The term changes based on gender and number: американец is the masculine form, американка is the feminine form for an American woman and американцы is the plural form for Americans. If you need the genitive singular form (for example, to show possession or to use after certain prepositions), use американца.
How do you pronounce it?
amerikanets
Did you know?
- While американец refers to a citizen of the U.S. in modern Russian, historically the word was used more broadly to describe anyone from the Americas, including people from Canada and Brazil.
- In Soviet-era Russian, the term американцы was often used as a collective shorthand in political speeches to represent the entire U.S. government and its policies.
- The suffix -ец in американец is often used in Russian to denote a person from a specific place, similar to how 'townie' or 'New Yorker' functions in English, but it is a standard morphological way to create nouns from place names.
Examples in context
- Её муж американец.Her husband is American.This sentence is useful for identifying a husband's nationality using американец.Tatoeba #2519413 by paul_lingvo, translation #2757232 by verdulo
- Мой друг не американец.My friend isn't American.This sentence is useful for expressing that a friend is not an американец.Tatoeba #13955895 by marafon, translation #13947052 by rul
- Этот студент американец.This student is American.This sentence is useful for identifying a student as an американец.Tatoeba #4372150 by marafon, translation #408048 by Dorenda
- 77 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Andrey and Anastasia are talking about a new colleague at work.
- Андрей AndreyТы знаешь нашего нового коллегу?Ty znayesh nashago novogo kollegu?Do you know our new colleague?
- Анастасия AnastasiaДа, он американец из Нью-Йорка.Da, on amerikanets iz N'yuyorka.Yes, he is an American from New York.
- Андрей AndreyОн хорошо говорит по-русски?On khorosho govorit po-russki?Does he speak Russian well?
- Анастасия AnastasiaДля американца он говорит очень понятно.Dlya amerikantsa on govorit ochen ponyatno.For an American, he speaks very clearly.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
