How to Describe People in Italian

There are many different ways to describe a person!

Whether you’re describing yourself or someone else, knowing what some of these different ways are can be a big help.

These words are mainly adjectives so you need to agree with the noun.

Describing someone’s Appearance

General appearance:

Bello (good looking)

• un uomo bello
• una donna bella

Carino (pretty/nice)

Brutto (ugly)

Elegante – (well-dressed)

• una donna elegante
• un uomo elegante

Adj ending in -e don’t change in masculine and feminine

Attraente – (attractive)

HEIGHT

Alto (tall)

Basso (short)

Quanto sei alto? Sono alto un metro e settanta/1.70 cm (How tall are you? I’m 170 cm tall)

Use the verb “essere” to talk about height

BUILT:

Magro (slim)

Grasso (overweight)

Muscoloso  (muscular)

Gracile (slight)

HAIR

In Italian “capelli” it’s a plural word –> i capelli

When you add the adjective of the color it must agree with the plural word “capelli”

• I capelli biondi
• I tuoi capelli sono neri (your hair is black)
• capelli is plural, so the possessive (tuoi), the verb (sono) and the adj neri

Biondi (blonde)

Rossi (red)

Castani (brown)

Bianchi (white)

Neri (black)

Brizzolati (grey-haired)

Scuri (dark)

Chiari (light)

Corti (Short)

Medi (Medium)

Lunghi (Long)

Lisci (Straight)

Ricci (Curly)

Mossi (Wavy) 

Calvo (Bald)

The adjective bald does not refer to the hair but to the man or woman without hair:

• L’uomo calvo / gli uomini calvi
• La donna calva / le donne calve

SKIN TONES

Pelle chiara (Light Skin)

Pelle scura (Dark Skin)

Speaking about a person’s skin we can say:

• Un uomo con la pelle chiara / un uomo dalla pelle chiara
• Una donna con la pelle chiara / una donna dalla pelle chiara

You can use the preposition con as well as dalla

AGE

Neonato (Newborn)

Bambino (child)

Giovane (young)

Adolescente (adolescent/teenager)

Adulto (adult)

Mezza età (middle age)

Anziano (elderly/old)

Sui 30/40/50 (on his/her 30/40/50)

When we don’t say the exact age of a person we can say:

• un uomo sui 40 anni
• una donna sulla trentina (circa 30 anni / about 30)

Describing someone’s Character and Personality

Amichevole (friendly)

Scortese (unfriendly)

Gentile (kind)

Divertente (fun)

Intelligente (clever)

Timido (shy)

Pessimista/Ottimista (pessimist/optimist)

Pigro (lazy)

Vivace/Esuberante (exuberant)

Describing someone’s Feelings

Felice (happy)

Preoccupato (Worried)

Triste (Sad)

Annoiato (Bored)

Ansioso (Anxious)

Sicuro di sé (Self-confident)

Curioso (Curious)

Invidioso (Envious)

Geloso (Jealous)

Arrabbiato (Angry)