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 est Elle est
athletic athlétique athlétique
bald chauve chauve
balding dégarni dégarnie
beautiful   belle
fat gros grosse
handsome beau, joli  
pretty   jolie
short petit petite
skinny maigre maigre
tall grand grande
thin mince mince
ugly moche, laid moche, laide
weak faible faible
     
He / She is… Il est… Elle est…
black noir
black (informal)
noire
black
dark-skinned brun (de peau)
à peau brune
brune (de peau)
à peau brune
fair-skinned à peau claire à peau claire
pale pâle pâle
ruddy, florid rougeaud rougeaude
tanned bronzé bronzée
white blanc blanche

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

He / She has… Il / Elle a…
blue eyes les yeux bleus
brown bruns
green verts
hazel noisette
  
black hair les cheveux noirs
blond blonds
brown châtains, bruns
gray     gris
red roux
long longs
short courts
straight raides
wavy ondulés
curly bouclés
 
a beard une barbe
dimples des fossettes
freckles des taches de rousseur
a mustache une moustache
a scar une cicatrice
a tattoo un tatouage
wrinkles des rides

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French descriptions

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