Learning French: Describing Someone's Appearance and Personality (Page 2 of 3)

Article by R. H. (4,170 pts ) , published Jun 30, 2009

Describing people in French: some useful words

Here are some vocabulary words you will need to find useful to describe people in French:

You will want to learn some nouns that name people:

  • le/la bébé - baby
  • l'enfant - child
  • le garçon - boy
  • la fille - girl
  • le jeune homme - young man
  • la jeuene femme - young woman
  • l'homme - man
  • la femme - woman
  • le vieillard - elderly man
  • la vieille femme - elderly woman

It's also helpful to know some pronouns that refer to people:

  • il - he
  • elle - she
  • ils - they (masculine)
  • elles - they (feminine)

And here are a few nouns that describe parts of a person:

  • les yeux - eyes
  • les cheveux - hair
  • la barbe - beard
  • la moustache - mustache

To describe people, it is also very important to learn some adjectives that describe the appearance or personality of someone. Here are some adjectives in alphabetical order (the ending in parentheses is the feminine ending):

  • actif (-ve) - active
  • ambitieux (-se) - ambitious
  • beau, bel, belle - beautiful or handsome
  • blanc (he) - white
  • bleu (e) - blue
  • blond (e) - blonde
  • bon (ne) - good
  • brun (e) - brown
  • célibataire - single
  • chouette - cool
  • content (e) - happy
  • court (e) - short
  • disret (-ète) - discreet
  • ennuyeux (-se) - boring
  • généreux (-se) - generous
  • grand (e) - big or tall
  • gris (e) - grey
  • gros (se) - fat
  • honnête - honest
  • indépendant (e) - independnet
  • intéressante (e) - interesting
  • jaune - yellow
  • jeune - young
  • joli (e) - pretty
  • laid (e) - ugly
  • long (ue) - long
  • malhonnête - dishonest
  • marié (e) - married
  • marron - brown
  • mauvais (e) - bad
  • mince - thin
  • moche - ugly
  • noir (e) - black
  • occupé (e) - busy
  • optimiste - optimistic
  • orange - orange
  • paresseux (-se) - lazy
  • pessimiste - pessimistic
  • petit (e) - small, short
  • rose - pink
  • roux (rousse) - red [hair]
  • sensationnel (le) - wonderful
  • sérieux (-se) - serious
  • sportif (-ve) - athletic
  • timide - shy
  • triste - sad
  • vert (e) -green

Knowing these vocabulary words will enable you to make some accurate descriptions of people.

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