Describing people in French using 'avoir' and 'être'

Describing people’s height

To describe people’s size, use a form of être (to be) and then the adjective, which usually ‎changes its ending depending on whether the person is masculine or feminine.‎

• Mon père est grand - My dad is tall.‎
• Ma mère est grande - My mum is tall.‎
• Ma sœur est de taille moyenne - My sister is medium height.‎
• Mon demi-frère est petit - My step-brother is short.‎
• Ma grand-mère est petite - My grandmother is short.‎

You can use intensifiers (words that add ‘force’ to an adjective) such as ‎très (very) and assez (quite) to add more information.‎

• Je suis très grand(e) - I am very tall.‎
• Mon grand-père est assez petit - My grandfather is quite short.‎

Comparing people’s heights

To compare two people, use the following sentence structure:‎

Describing hair

To talk about your hair, use a form of avoir (to have), followed by les cheveux (hair) and ‎then give the colour or another adjective to describe your hair.

• J’ai les cheveux bruns - I have brown hair.‎
• Il a les cheveux bruns et frisés - He has brown, curly hair. ‎

If you want to use more than one adjective to describe your hair, use et before the last ‎adjective:‎

• J’ai les cheveux blonds, longs et bouclés - I have long, blond, wavy hair.‎

The adjectives all need to have an ‘s’ on the end, as les cheveux is masculine and plural, ‎except roux and gris, as they don’t change when masculine and plural.‎

Describing eye colour

To talk about eye colour, use j’ai (I have) or il a/elle a (he has/she has), followed by les ‎yeux (eyes) and then give the colour.‎

The adjectives all need to have an ‘s’ on the end, as les yeux is masculine and plural, ‎except marron, noisette and gris, as they don’t change when used in the masculine and ‎plural.‎

• J’ai les yeux verts - I have green eyes.‎
• J’ai les yeux marron - I have brown eyes.‎

Describing other features

There are lots of other things you can say about someone’s appearance. Here are a few ‎more examples:‎

Describing personalities

There are lots of adjectives you can use to talk about people’s personalities.

Most adjective endings change depending on whether the person you are talking about is ‎male or female. ‎Usually, you add an ‘e’ to the adjective to describe a female person: ‎

• Mon copain, qui s’appelle Nabil, est amusant et très bavard - My (male) friend, ‎Nabil, is funny and very chatty.‎
• Ma copine, qui s’appelle Anya, est amusante et très bavarde - My (female) friend, ‎Anya is funny and very chatty.‎

Sometimes, you need to change the last consonant and add an ‘e’ to make an adjective ‎feminine. With some adjectives, you have to double the consonant and add an ‘e’.‎

• Mon copain, qui s’appelle Nabil, est gentil et très sportif - My (male) friend, Nabil, ‎is kind and very sporty.‎
• Ma copine, qui s’appelle Anya, est gentille et très sportive - My (female) friend, ‎Anya is kind and very sporty.‎

Some adjectives don’t change when they are feminine.‎

• Mon copain, qui s’appelle Nabil, est sympa et très drôle - My (male) friend, Nabil, ‎is nice and very funny.‎
• Ma copine, qui s’appelle Anya, est sympa très drôle - My (female) friend, Anya is ‎nice and very funny.‎

Here are some great adjectives you can use to describe people’s personalities:‎

Quiz

Watch the video and find out how much you know about describing people in French in this short quiz.‎