How to Describe Physical Appearance in English

In this lesson, you will find everything that you need to describe your own physical appearance and the appearance of others.

There are many things we can say about a person if we are trying to describe him or her physically.

Physical characteristics are defined in the following way:

Physical characteristics are defining traits or features about your body. These are aspects that are visually apparent, knowing nothing else about the person.

The first thing you see when you look at someone could be their hair, clothes, nose, or figure. These are all examples of physical characteristics.

Examples of Physical Characteristics. – Your Dictionary

Describing physical appearance is one of the common topics that you will study since the topic is found in the most used English textbooks.

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What You Need to Know

In order to describe physical appearance in English, you need to manage each one of the sub-topics well.

• Physical Appearance Vocabulary
• Simple Present
• Present Continuous

When you know those topics, you can make sentences like this:

• She is beautiful
• She has beautiful eyes
• She is wearing a white shirt
• He is wearing black earrings and a cap

Now let’s check some considerations when describing physical appearance before exploring the topic any further.

Considerations when Describing the Physical Appearance

We have to be really careful when we describe other people’s physical appearance since some descriptions might be considered impolite or offensive to some people.

Whether the description is accurate people might take it the wrong way when referring to the height, body shape, or size.

We have to be really careful when the examples that we use, sometimes people learning a language might use words such as ugly, fat, and chubby with the sole intent to offend or make fun of people and classmates.

Vocabulary to Describe Physical Appearance

This is key vocabulary to describe physical appearance divided into the most important categories:

#1	Height
#2	Build
#3	Hair
#4	Eyes
#5	Type of Hair
#6	General
#7	Clothing

Physical Appearance: Height

These are some common expressions to talk about height in English

Tall	He is quite tall
Very Tall	Mike is very tall
Short	He is very short
Medium Height	She is of medium height

Physical Appearance: Build

These are some of the most common words to describe people

Skinny	She is skinny
Big	That guy is big
Thin	He is slim
Fat	She is fat
Overweight	He is overweight
Slim	My brother is slim
Obese	He is obese
Muscular	He is muscular
Fit	She looks fit
Athletic	He is very athletic

Physical Appearance: Hair

These are some common expressions and words to describe hair color in English

Blonde	She is blonde
Brown hair	She has brown hair
Red hair	He has red hair
Black hair	Both of them have black hair
Grey hair	She has grey hair

Physical Appearance: Eyes

These are some common expressions to describe eyes in English

Grey eyes	She has grey eyes
Green eyes	My sons have green eyes
Blue eyes	I have  blue eyes
Brown eyes	He has brown eyes
Dark eyes	I have dark eyes

Physical Appearance: Type of Hair

These are some common expressions to describe types of hair in English

Long hair	She has long hair
Short hair	He has short hair
Wavy hair	She has wavy hair
Curly hair	Her hair is curly
Straight hair	She has straight hair

Physical Appearance: General

These are some expressions to describe physical appearance in General Terms

Beautiful	She is very beautiful
Handsome	He is very handsome

Appearance: Clothing

When you are describing people’s appearance, some people might consider that describing what they are wearing is a good idea.

Jeans	She is wearing black jeans
Pants	He is wearing black pants and a white shirt
Skirt	She is wearing a blue skirt and a white shirt

Grammar to Describe Physical Appearance

These are two of the basic structures to describe physical appearance

Physical Appearance with the Verb to Be

Examples of affirmative and negative sentences with the verb to be

I am handsome	I am not that handsome
He is a very good-looking guy	He isn’t good-looking at all
She is tall	She is tall
We are in shape	We aren’t in shape
They are skinny	They aren’t skinny

Examples of questions about physical appearance and the verb to be

Are you in shape?	yes, I am
Is she tall?	Yes, she is
is he beautiful?	Yes, he is
Are they skinny?	Yes, they are
Is she tall?	Yes, she is

Physical Appearance with the Verb to Have

These are some examples of affirmative and negative sentences with the verb to have

I have blue eyes	I don’t have blue eyes
She has long hair	She doesn’t have long hair
He has black hair	He doesn’t have black hair
It has black fur	It doesn’t have black fur
We have green eyes	We don’t have green eyes
They have short hair	They don’t have short hair
You have brown eyes	You don’t have brown eyes

Examples of  Questions about physical appearance and the verb to have

Do you have green eyes?	No, I don’t / Yes, I do
Does she have blue eyes?	No, She doesn’t / Yes, She does
Does he have short hair?	No, He doesn’t / Yes, He does
Do they have green eyes?	No, They don’t / Yes, They do
Do we have black hair?	No, We don’t / Yes, we do
Do you have short hair?	No, I don’t / Yes, I do

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Dialogue about Physical Appearance

This is a dialogue about people describing people’s physical appearance using some of the vocabulary and structures used above

• Maria: Look who is over there?
• John: Who?
• Maria: It is Jessica from high school
• John: What does she look like? I don’t remember her
• Maria: It is the one with long wavy hair.
• John: She looks beautiful
• Maria: Let’s go to say hi to her
• John:  Of course

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