I’ve just heard, for example, to just say “from/in Moscow” or, when comparing it to something like “I went to an American school and then a Russian one”, you just say the country as the adjective.
москвич, which translates to muscovite.
versaillais just translates to “from Versailles”
moscowians and versaillans
Musks and Verses?
The noun that describes a person or thing from a place is a “demonym”. American, Michigander, Californian, New Yorker…
- Moscow: a Muscovite
- Versailles: a Versaillais (pronounced “ver-sah-yeah”)
it’s on the wikipedia page of most places
Muscovites and Versaillians.
I believe people from Moscow are called Muscovites. I don’t know about Versailles though.
In Russian, a person from Moscow is a Moskvich (Москвич).
Moscovites for Moscow.
Something in Russian and French :)
(Actual answers already in another comment)
Foreign language names for where people are from are usually limited to region and country.
People are answering your headline but not understanding your question; the two aren’t as linked as they would be in French.
All of these are valid:
- I went to a Moscow school
- I went to a school in Moscow
- I went to a Versaille cafe
- I went to a cafe in Versaille.
- I dated a London girl
- I dated a girl from London
These sound more natural than the following:
- I went to a Muscovite school
- I went to a Versaillian cafe (People have been giving you the direct French for Versaillais, but English wouldn’t use fhat)
- I dated a Londoner girl.
At least for Muscovite, it retains the implication that the school is for people from Moscow, rather than the school being in Moscow. You can see this a lot more often in religion, eg. I went to a Presbyterian school - I went to a school for Presbyterians.
A demonym is a noun that specifically refers to a person from a particular location; you can’t use it as an adjective.
So in your second list, a school can’t be a Muscovite, since it isn’t a person. You could have met a Muscovite at the school in Moscow.
You would just say that you dated a Londoner. You would then use an adjective to describe the Londoner further (a female Londoner) or make the sentence longer and a bit clunkier IMO (a Londoner who was a woman)
Maybe I’m missing some context here but I would probably just say “Russian” or “French” 🤷♂️
