How to Describe People in English: Appearance and Personality

There are two ways to describe people in English. You can describe people’s appearance and personality.

You can describe a person’s personality by saying things like:

• She is really nice
• They are really cool friends
• We are very friendly people

You can describe a person’s physical appearance by saying things like:

• She is really tall
• She has brown eyes
• She has black curly hair.

Something that you have to keep in mind is that there are positive and negative things that you can say about someone’s personality and appearance so I strongly advise being cautious when using some of the words presented here.

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Vocabulary to Describe Physical Appearance

Height

Tall	She is very tall
Short	He is short

Build

Skinny	She is skinny
Thin	I am thin
Fat	I am not fat
Overweight	He is overweight
Slim	You are slim

Hair

Blonde	You are blonde
Brown hair	She has brown hair
Red hair	I have red hair
Black hair	She has black hair
Grey hair	He is grey hair

Eyes

Grey eyes	I have grey eyes
Green eyes	She has green eyes
Blue eyes	I have blue eyes
Brown eyes	Does she have brown eyes?
Dark eyes	Does he have dark eyes?

Type of Hair

Long hair	Does she have long hair?
Short hair	Does he have short hair?
Wavy hair	She has wavy hair
Curly hair	I have curly hair
Straight hair	We have straight hair

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Personality in English

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability.

The other is understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole.

Positive Adjectives to Describe Personality

These are some examples of positive adjectives to describe personality:

Friendly	Kind	Charming
Adventurous	Honest	Hardworking
Polite	Likable	Considerate
Understanding	Honest	Sincere
Straight Forward	Helpful	Patient
Bright	Reliable	Enthusiastic
Hilarious	Laid-back	Easy-going

Negative Adjectives to Describe Personality in English

These are some examples of negative adjectives to describe personality in English

Agressive	Bossy	Grumpy
Impulsive	Picky	Tactless
Arrogant	Considerate	Mean
Nasty	Sneaky	Dogmatic
Intolerant	Jealous	Possessive
Lazy	Careless	Irresponsible
Gullible	Moody	Pessimistic

Quantifiers about Personality in English

These are some quantifiers to use when talking about personality in English

very	quite
somewhat	so
Just	Really
Pretty	a little
Kind of	Sort of

How to Talk about Personality in English

These are some phrases to describe your personality in English

I would say that I am …	I would say that I am extroverted
I’m …	I’m an easy-going person
I have …	I have a good sense of humor
I describe myself	I describe myself as an optimistic person
I guess I’m	I guess I’m moody

These are examples that include some of the positive and adjectives to describe personality in English

1. He is shy, he never talks to anybody
2. She is talkative,  she never stops talking
3. I consider myself lazy, I don’t like to work hard
4. He is always kind with new students
5. My dad is optimistic, he thinks everything is going to be alright
6. We are very bright students
7. They are very funny, they always make friends laugh.
8. She is quiet, She never says much
9. He is  a very honest man, he will tell you the truth
10. She is jealous, she doesn’t want others to win.
11. I am very brave, I face dangerous and difficult situations.
12. Mike is clever, he is good at learning things.
13. He is an easy-going guy, definitely a guy who is easy to get a long with.
14. James is so lucky, he bought a lottery and he won.
15. Lucas is tidy, his desk is well organized.
16. Maria is very irresponsible, she never does her homework.

Personality Conversation Questions

These are conversation questions that can help you talk about personality.

First Set – Personality Conversation Questions

1. What makes you happy?
2. What makes you angry?
3. Are you happy with your personality?
4. Are you shy? Do you make friends easily?
5. Are you an outgoing person?
6. How do you organize files in your computers?
7. What kinds of people do you get along well with?
8. can you think of ten verbs to describe personality?
9. having a great personality makes you attractive?
10. What characteristics does a  leader need to have?
11. How would you describe a brave person?

Second Set – Personality Conversation Questions

1. How are male and female personalities different?
2. How has your personality changed over the years?
3. What personality types are you attracted to?
4. How would you describe your best friend?
5. How would you describe your husband or wife?
6. How would you describe your favorite teacher?
7. Do you consider yourself an optimistic person?
8. Do you consider yourself a negative person?
9. Do you consider yourself a hardworking person?
10. Do you consider yourself a confident person?
11. How would you describe an easy-going person?

Third Set – Personality Conversation Questions

1. Can you describe your personality?
2. Do you consider yourself a lazy person?
3. Are you a patient or an impatient person?
4. How would you describe an introverted person?
5. How would you describe an extrovert person?
6. Do you consider yourself a jealous person?
7. Would you like to be different?
8. Are you happy with your personality?
9. Do you think that you are a selfish person?
10. Are you a determined person? Are you a stubborn person?
11. How would you describe a courageous person?

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Exercise: Personality Adjectives

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