What are Proper Adjectives?
Proper Adjectives are the types of adjectives that are used to describe Proper Nouns and Pronouns (names of specific people, animals, things, etc).
For example, consider the country name “India” which usually starts with a Capital letter when used in a sentence because it is a Proper Noun. The adjective “Indian” also must start with the capital letter only.
Most of the Proper Adjectives are formed using names of countries (or other specific cities or places), religions or people’s names. These types of Adjectives are more specific than normal Adjectives.
Also Read: Proper Noun with examples | Best English Guide 2025
A Proper Noun is usually a specific (particular) name of the person, place, thing, etc. These types of nouns are always capitalized anywhere in the sentence in the English Language. All the nouns are bascically categorised into two types. Those are, Proper and Common Nouns… (Read More)
Different Types of Proper Adjectives
Proper Adjectives are mostly of two types based on the different aspects. Those aspects are,
- Name of the Places
- Name of the People
Proper Adjectives as Place Names
Previously we had learnt that the Country names are Specific and it belongs to Proper Noun and it is used starting with a capital letter in a sentence.
Not only this applies to the country names, but it is also applicable to any region, area, locality, city, etc. Now let us understand this concept with few examples.
Example Sentence:
- I love Indian Sweets. (Country)
Sentence Structure: I (Subject) + love (verb) + Indian (Proper Adjective) + Sweets (Object).
In the above sentence, the adjective “Indian” is used to describe the specific country name. Also, both adjective and noun (Sweet) are having capital letters.
- The best biryani in India is Hyderabadi Biryani. (City)
Sentence Structure: The best biryani (Subject) + in India + is (Verb) + Hyderabadi (Proper Adjective) + Biryani (Object).
In the above sentence, the adjective “Hyderabadi” is used to describe the specific city of India. Also, both adjectives and nouns (Biryani) are having capital letters.
- Vada Pav is one of the most liked local dishes by the Mumbai People. (City)
Sentence Structure: Vada Pav (Subject) + is (Verb) + one of the most liked local dishes by the + Mumbai (Proper Adjective) + People (Object).
In the above sentence, the adjective “Mumbai” is used to describe the specific city of India. Also, both adjectives and nouns (People) are having capital letters.
- Central Park is one of the largest Financial State Parks in New York. (Area)
Sentence Structure: Central Park (Subject) + is (Verb) + one of the largest + Financial States (Proper Adjectives) + Parks in New York (Object).
In the above sentence, the adjective “Financial State” is used to describe the specific area of New York City. Also, both adjectives and nouns (Parks) are having capital letters.
Below are a few examples of Countries and Continents with Proper Adjective.
| Name of the Continent | Proper Adjective |
| Asia | Asian |
| Europe | European |
| North America | North American |
| South America | South American |
| Africa | African |
| Australia | Australian |
| Name of the Country | Proper Adjective |
| Australia | Australian |
| South Africa | African |
| United States of America | American |
| China | Chinese |
| France | French |
| England | British |
| India | Indian |
| Italy | Italian |
| Spain | Spanish |
| Portugal | Portuguese |
If you want to read more examples, then you can refer to the complete Countries list in Wikipedia.
Proper Adjectives as People Names
Proper Adjectives are also used for People’s names such as Adam’s apple. These names can be from famous personalities like scientists, artists, political leaders, authors, etc.
The noun and pronouns which are retrieved from the person’s names are called as Eponymous.
| Person’s Name (Proper Noun) | Proper Adjective | Example Sentence |
| Gautam Buddha | Buddhist | There are many Buddhist temples in India. |
| Charles Darwin | Darwinian | Darwinian Theory is about the biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin. |
| Jesus Christ | Christian | The world’s largest religion is Christianity. |
| Queen Elizabeth | Elizabethan | Part of this area is Elizabethan. |
Proper Adjectives with Prefixes
Case 1: Generally, when the prefix is added to the Proper Adjective, then we should not capitalize (use of capital letter). Let us understand with an example.
- pre-Christian
Paganism like Albanian, Celtic, Finnic and Ancient Greek are a few pre-Christian religions.
Case 2: Capitalization is only done when the adjective (with prefix) is used at the beginning of the sentence. For example,
- pan-European
Pan-European is usually the economic unity among European countries.
Case 3: When the prefix itself becomes a Proper Noun, then it be capitalized. For example, consider two proper nouns Austro and Hungarian. Austro adjective comes from the proper noun of the country Austria and Hungarian adjective is comes from the proper noun of Hungary.
- Austro-Hungarian
The first World War was led due to the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
Proper Adjectives with Hyphen
The functionality of Proper Adjection with Suffixes and Hyphens is the same as Prefixes.
- English-speaking
My friend wants to learn speaking skills from the best English-speaking course.
Summary: (Proper Adjective)
- Proper Adjective is basically used to describe specific names of the people, places, things, etc. It belongs to one of the categories of Adjectives.
- It is used with proper noun and pronouns.
- It is mostly used with the names of the continents, countries, cities, localities, etc.
- It is also used for describing the specific famous personalities.
- The Proper Adjectives are only capitalized only when it begin with the sentence.
If you are interested to learn more, then you can refer to Wikipedia here.
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