Proper Adjectives

A proper adjective is an adjective that begins with an initial capital letter. Proper adjectives are derived from proper nouns.

In the following examples, proper nouns are in bold:

• He was a German physist.
• The Canadian government strongly opposed the change.
• This region was formerly populated by Indiantribes.

Forming proper adjectives may be a little difficult at first, because the derivation of proper adjectives from proper nouns is somewhat irregular:

Many proper adjectives end with an or ian. However, other endings are also used, as indicated below.