When you need to describe things, ideas, or people in English, finding the right words isn’t always easy. Even native English speakers struggle to find the right descriptive words at times. It is especially hard when you need to describe a person, as people can have very distinctive looks, personalities, and behavior.
Nonetheless, learning how to describe a person is vital to becoming fluent in English. In this guide, we will cover some of the best phrases to describe a person, as well as useful tips to help keep your descriptions positive and friendly!
Talking about how someone looks is complicated for a couple of reasons. First of all, describing someone’s appearance can seem a little rude, even if you’re trying to say something nice. People don’t like to feel objectified (made to feel like an object instead of a person), so it’s important to always keep physical descriptions very positive.
However, if you’re talking with people that you don’t know very well, it’s probably best to avoid describing a person’s appearance entirely.
In any case, here are a few general tips to keep in mind when describing people’s appearance:
Now let’s look at a few positive appearance adjectives to help get you started!
As a rule of thumb, using positive adjectives to describe a person typically steers the conversation in a better direction. If you’d like to see some more ways to describe people in a positive way, check out the ultimate list of positive adjectives!
Example Sentences
Here are a few example phrases to describe a person in English:
*Important Note: When you speak to someone directly about their appearance, it’s polite to preface (begin) your statement with one of the underlined phrases above. This is especially true if you’re discussing negative traits. These phrases will let the other person know that you’re not trying to be rude or unpleasant. However, this doesn’t guarantee that they will like what you have to say!
It’s important to learn how to describe someone’s physical features, but it’s even more important to learn how to describe someone’s personality. Personalities are complex, making them difficult to put into words. Nonetheless, there are plenty of great ways to describe someone’s personality and character traits.
When you’re describing someone’s personality, you should take some of the same precautions that you would when describing their appearance. It’s always best to keep things positive and avoid hurting anyone’s feelings. That’s why positive adjectives are so useful!
Now let’s look at some positive personality adjectives to get you started.
Example Sentences
Here are a few more phrases to describe a person in English:
*Important note: Remember, when talking to someone directly about their personality, don’t forget to include one of the underlined phrases above to help “soften” your words. This will help you sound more friendly and less critical, especially if you want to discuss someone’s negative character traits!
Real-life conversations are far more nuanced than a word list and definitions. For example, did you know that depending on the tone and the context, a positive adjective could sometimes be used as an insult? Let’s hear what our lead instructor, Anita, has to say about that.
Ultimately, the only way to master these words is to practice using them in live conversations and getting effective feedback. That’s exactly why we built SpeakUp. Join an engaging live conversation today and get critical feedback on your English, all for free for 1 week.
Matthew Jones is a freelance writer with a B.A. in Film and Philosophy from the University of Georgia. It was during his time in school that he published his first written work. After serving as a casting director in the Atlanta film industry for two years, Matthew acquired TEFL certification and began teaching English abroad. In 2017, Matthew started writing for dozens of different brands across various industries. During this time, Matthew also built an online following through his film blog. If you’d like to learn more about Matthew, you can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn!
