How do Germans call someone from the United States?

Question

If "the united states" is translated to "Vereinigten Staaten" then how do you call people from there?

I have always heard "Amerikaner" but that one refers to the whole continent.

Answer 1

It depends on the context. Normally an Amerikaner will be identified as someone from US.

If you have a situation where you want to make it absolutly clear, you can say US-Amerikaner.

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In a bakery, an Amerikaner can be eaten ;)

Answer 2

Amerikaner

In Germany it is exactly the same as in the United States:

We are Americans ^{Obama's weekly address Jan 15 2011}

literally translates to

Wir sind Amerikaner ^{(this obviously is not true then)}

Only if we need to further specify where a person lives we could also say:

Nordamerikaner, US-Amerikaner - North American
Südamerikaner - South American
Texaner - Texan
Südstaatler - Southerner
Kanadier - Canadian
Mexikaner - Mexican
[...] ^{endless list}

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Ami

A short form frequently used in colloquial German is

Ami

that has the connotation of a friend from French "ami".

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US-Bürger

Note that in Germany we do not use "U.S." for the United States (it is "USA"). Still we do say

"US-Bürger" for a U.S. citizen

Answer 3

In Germany we use Amerika as a synonym to the country U.S.A., allthough using it at the same time for referring to the continent, but usually adding Nord- or Süd-.

Thus, the inhabitants of the country are called Amerikaner. When talking about people from other countries on the continent, we are either using their country's name, like Kanadier or Mexikaner, or adding a region information, like Südamerikaner or Lateinamerikaner.