Descriptions

Descriptions in French
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Les descriptions

Setting up an online dating profile, talking to friends about someone you met, bragging about a new baby, and telling the police about a suspect have one thing in common: physical descriptions. Learn all the French vocabulary you need to describe the most common physical characteristics.

Asking for a description

To ask what a person looks like, you need the verb être (to be):

What does he look like? Comment est-il ?
What does she look like? Comment est-elle ?

Giving a description

When describing someone, the verb you need depends on which characteristic you’re talking about. General characteristics need être.

He / She is…Il estElle est
athleticathlétiqueathlétique
baldchauvechauve
baldingdégarnidégarnie
beautiful belle
fatgrosgrosse
handsomebeau, joli 
pretty jolie
shortpetitpetite
skinnymaigremaigre
tallgrandgrande
thinmincemince
uglymoche, laidmoche, laide
weakfaiblefaible
   
He / She is…Il est…Elle est…
blacknoir
black (informal)
noire
black
dark-skinnedbrun (de peau)
à peau brune
brune (de peau)
à peau brune
fair-skinnedà peau claireà peau claire
palepâlepâle
ruddy, floridrougeaudrougeaude
tannedbronzébronzée
whiteblancblanche

When describing a specific part of the body, you need the verb avoir (to have).

He / She has…Il / Elle a…
blueeyesles yeuxbleus
brownbruns
greenverts
hazelnoisette
  
blackhairles cheveuxnoirs
blondblonds
brownchâtains, bruns
gray  gris
redroux
longlongs
shortcourts
straightraides
wavyondulés
curlybouclés
 
a beardune barbe
dimplesdes fossettes
frecklesdes taches de rousseur
a mustacheune moustache
a scarune cicatrice
a tattooun tatouage
wrinklesdes rides

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French descriptions

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