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My friend asked me a question today:

Woher kommen deine Eltern?

and I wanted to answer

My parents come from Afghanistan.

I know that the nationality in German for "Afghan" is afghanisch with die Afghanin and der Afghane for the respective individuals.

I failed to find any source for when the people in concern are plural.

What happens in that instance? Do we add the plural ending to "afghanisch" i.e. afghanische or what happens?

I thought it would be

Meine Eltern sind afghanische

but I'm not sure.

EDIT my other thought was

Meine Eltern sind Afghanen.

but again I'm not too sure.

vik1245
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    "Meine Eltern sind afghanische": note that even if this was the right way to express your parents' nationality, it would be "Meine Eltern sind afghanisch" without the e. Adjectives in final position (more precisely, predicative adjectives) don't take endings. – TonyK May 06 '19 at 21:41

5 Answers5

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Your thought in the edit was correct: If you want to refer to multiple Afghans in German, the plural noun Afghanen is used. It comprises male and female individuals alike.

Meine Eltern sind Afghanen.
(My parents are Afghans.)

However, if you want to explicitly refer to female Afghans, the noun Afghaninnen, which is the plural of Afghanin, is used.

Heute traf ich zwei Afghaninnen.
(Today I met two Afghan women.)

The word afghanisch is an adjective, which has to be declined appropriately. Its role is to modify noun phrases.

Ich habe einen afghanischen Vater.
(I have an Afghan father.)

Ich habe eine afghanische Mutter.
(I have an Afghan mother.)

Ich habe ein afghanisches Patenkind.
(I have an Afghan godchild.)

Ich habe afghanische Eltern.
(I have Afghan parents.)

Addendum
In case that, as user @McLovin believes, you really just wanted to know what "My parents come from Afghanistan" means in German, the answer is simply

Meine Eltern kommen aus Afghanistan.

Björn Friedrich
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    And, to add, an Afghane in common German speech is also the Afghan hound. – Janka May 06 '19 at 17:54
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    great! I hate to ask, but in the sentence "Meine Eltern sind Afghanen" is the "Afghanen" a plural noun that we use in this sentence? – vik1245 May 06 '19 at 17:55
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    @Janka, and I thought it is a kind of weed. – Carsten S May 06 '19 at 22:00
  • @BobSmith: It is, and that is the only reason why it starts with a capital letter (being a place name isn't relevant for that in German, as evidenced in the adjective "afghanisch"). – O. R. Mapper May 07 '19 at 06:58
  • I really don't get why this answer has so many upvotes as it does not answer the main question. He specifically wanted to know what "My parents come from Afghanistan." means in German and not what their nationality was. – Julian Sievers May 07 '19 at 08:19
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    @McLovin No, OP's specifically asking for the correct way of expressing the nationality. He is using the sentence "My parents come from Afghanistan" as the English expression of that. – sgf May 07 '19 at 08:59
  • @sgf The description of the question actually does not match with the answer OP wanted to give. I see OP is trying to describe it with nationality but if he wanted it to be answered this way, his provided answer would have been "My parents are afghan.". This is also something I would not expect as an answer in any conversation when asking where someones parents are from. – Julian Sievers May 07 '19 at 10:01
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    @McLovin: Für solche Fälle gibt es den Flag not an answer. Zudem kommt eine eigene Antwort in der Regel besser an, als ein neidischer Kommentar. Ob die dann aber mehr Upvotes verdient, steht auf einem anderen Blatt. – Björn Friedrich May 07 '19 at 10:26
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    @McLovin "I know that the nationality in German for "Afghan" is afghanisch with die Afghanin and der Afghane for the respective individuals. I failed to find any source for when the people in concern are plural. " That makes clear what the OP is after. "Meine Eltern sind Afghanen" is a flawless answer to "Woher kommen deine Eltern?". – sgf May 07 '19 at 11:14
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Woher kommen deine Eltern?

There's no need to return a full sentence by repeating »Eltern« and »kommen«, the most simple (and probably most common) answer would be:

Aus Afghanistan.

Some say just

Afghanistan.

which is less polite, because one may get the impression that you want to kill the conversation instantly by giving a minimal answer.

Pollitzer
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    Beim Sprachunterricht gilt aber das Mantra "im ganzen Satz!". – user unknown May 06 '19 at 19:51
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    @userunknown Bei vielen schlechten Sprachlehrern ist es leider so, dass nur eine synthetische und normgerechte Sprache unterrichtet wird. Das ist vermutlich eine der wichtigsten Ursachen dafür, und in Deutschland leider sehr stark verbreitet, dass Schüler trotz vieler Jahre Sprachunterricht weder in der Lage sind die gelernte Sprache praxistauglich zu verstehen noch zu verwenden. Zum Glück waren meine Deutschlehrer nicht so, sonst hätte ich hier nicht schreiben können. – jarnbjo May 07 '19 at 10:33
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Direct translation of your English sentence:

Meine Eltern kommen aus Afghanistan.

That avoids all the hassle of finding out how the adjectives must be declinated.

Otherwise you can write:

Meine Eltern sind afghanisch (no -e).

But:

Ich habe afghanische Eltern.

Don't ask me about the rules for this: I speak the language pretty well, but don't know much about the rules behind this, i.e. when to declinate or when to use the base form of the adjective.

You can also write:

Meine Eltern sind Afghanen.

or, if asked about only one parent:

Meine Mutter ist Afghanin

or

Mein Vater is Afghane.

Rudy Velthuis
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    I don't think anybody would really say that last sentence, would they? – TonyK May 06 '19 at 21:43
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    Also, Meine Eltern sind afghanisch is grammatically correct, but people wouldn't say that. It sounds mildly pejorative to speak of people's ethnicitcy by a predicative adjective ("sind ...-isch"). – sgf May 06 '19 at 22:14
  • @TonyK: why not? Ok, they won't say Afghanen, Afghanin and Afghane in one sentence. But you don't have to. This was just an example. Your either say they are ... or you say Sie ist ...und er ist ... (especially if they are not both from the same country). – Rudy Velthuis May 06 '19 at 22:30
  • @sgf: I don't find it pejorative at all! If someone would say Meine Eltern sind niederländisch, that would be perfectly fine with me (I am Dutch). – Rudy Velthuis May 06 '19 at 22:33
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    Well, they are from the same country. So nobody would put it like that in real life. – TonyK May 06 '19 at 22:54
  • @TonyK. Very likely not, indeed. But as example, it is good enough, IMO. – Rudy Velthuis May 07 '19 at 06:27
  • @sgf: Either that, or it's mistaken for meaning they follow Afghan customs or stereotypes (whichever those may be), rather than being Afghans by current or original nationality. – O. R. Mapper May 07 '19 at 07:03
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    @RudyVelthuis "Meine Eltern sind niederländisch" also sounds slightly pejorative to me. It sounds as if you're actually saying "Meine Eltern sind sooo niederländisch." (Meaning all the clichés about Dutch people hold for them.) I think this is also what O.R. Mapper is getting at. – sgf May 07 '19 at 08:56
  • @sfg: Not to me, and I am niederländisch too. Even if someone would say about me "er ist soooo niederländisch" I would not see it as a slight. – Rudy Velthuis May 07 '19 at 09:07
  • Repeating like it is done in the last example would have a connotation of very strong emphasis (eg as an answer to someone who put your Afghan heritage in question), and could even come across offended or very patriotic. – rackandboneman May 07 '19 at 11:17
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    @rackandboneman: that "sentence" is merely a demonstration of the declinations, nothing else. I will rewrite the answer so I don't get any more unnecessary comments about that sentence. Of course one wouldn't say all these things at once: Afghanen, Afghanin, Afghane. You say the one that is appropriate. – Rudy Velthuis May 07 '19 at 11:34
  • @RudyVelthuis: "Sie sind afghanische Afghanen aus Afghanistan.", correct? ;) I agree "... ist (sooo) niederländisch." doesn't sound pejorative to me, but that is mainly because there are no negative stereotypes (or rather, barely any stereotypes at all) connected to "niederländisch" here in Southern Germany. If someone said "... ist (sooo) schottisch.", I would be much more likely to assume the speaker means "stingy" rather than "generally clinging to Scottish customs" or similar. – O. R. Mapper May 07 '19 at 19:56
  • @O.R.Mapper: No negative stereotypes connected to the Dutch? Really? Just think of Dutch caravans blocking the fast lanes on German Autobahns. – Rudy Velthuis May 07 '19 at 20:04
  • @RudyVelthuis: Hm. I knew about the caravan thing, but it was more of an amusing "Those funny people take their caravans wherever they go." kind of thing in my perception rather than anything negative. YMMV if you actually like driving fast and are not happy to sort yourself into a lane of non-speeding vehicles that impose a reasonable and permanent speed to adapt to, of course. – O. R. Mapper May 07 '19 at 20:09
  • @O.R.Mapper: If you want negative gossip about the Dutch, ask the Belgians. – Rudy Velthuis May 07 '19 at 20:13
  • I am not sure if "Sie sind afghanisch" und "Sie kommen aus Afghanistan" is actually the same thing (e.g. my wife is Irish, but she does not come from Ireland, her parents did). I would be curious if there is a rule for that. –  May 08 '19 at 07:56
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    @Eike: But if it is the same thing, then you can say both. So if they come from Afganistan, you can say either sentence. FWIW, my son is from Germany, but has the Dutch nationality, IOW, the same thing. – Rudy Velthuis May 08 '19 at 08:03
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I would rather say

Meine Eltern sind aus Afghanistan.

then

Meine Eltern sind Afghanen.

in German. Both are technically correct, but the first association the word Afghane might trigger in Germans is the dog and not the nationality.

foo
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    Dem letzten Satz muss ich vehement widersprechen. In den letzten Jahren war Afghanistan aus vielerlei Gründen Thema in den Medien. Wollen Sie ernsthaft behaupten, deutsche Medienkonsumenten hätten zuallererst an Hunde gedacht? Zudem wusste ich bis gestern nicht einmal von der Hunderasse. Das mag eine Bildungslücke gewesen sein, doch vermutlich teile ich die mit vielen anderen Menschen. – Björn Friedrich May 07 '19 at 16:10
  • @BjörnFriedrich I totally agree. But without this sentence this would be a solid answer worth upvoting. – miep May 08 '19 at 09:32
  • @miep, I disagree. Just saying, "I would rather do it like this" is not worth being upvoted at all. To make the point clear: I personally like the second sentence more than the first one. So, what is user foo's reason to prefer the first one? Is it a matter of right or wrong? Of style? Of sound? Or is it really only because he imagines dogs? In the latter case, this subjective answer is not good. – Björn Friedrich May 08 '19 at 10:33
  • i would say it would be fine if the reason would something like "as this is more used" or "there is no missinterpretation of the sentence" – miep May 08 '19 at 13:38
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Meine Eltern kommen aus Afghanistan.

All the other suggestion sound strange or complicated from a native speakers perspective.

kahranna
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  • "Meine Eltern sind Afghanen." What is so complicated in this sentence? – Björn Friedrich May 08 '19 at 10:38
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    It sounds artificial if used in the given context, because it stresses that the parents are (still) afghan citizens. In general it is enough to say the country of origin if being asked "Woher kommen deine Eltern?". – kahranna May 08 '19 at 12:16
  • Afghane can also mean the dog breed. Therefore I'd prefer "... aus Afghanistan". Same is true for Weimarer and Weimaraner, the former is a person, the latter a dog. – Steffen Roller May 13 '19 at 18:17