Describing people in Italian - How a person looks like

In this new YouTube video lesson you will learn how to describe a person in Italian. You will learn lots of Italian adjectives that are very useful when describing a person's looks.

You can follow the video also with a handy PDF file of the lesson and an extra free flashcard that you can print out if you need to review on the go!

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Descrivere una persona (aspetto fisico) - Describing a person (physical appearance)

The first thing that you need to remember when you are describing a person is that you need to use the verbs ESSERE (to be) and the verb AVERE (to have)

let’s review them quickly:

Essere (to be)

• Io sono
• tu sei
• lui lei è
• noi siamo
• voi siete
• loro sono

Avere (to have)

• Io ho
• tu hai
• lui lei ha
• noi abbiamo
• voi avete
• loro hanno

Remember that for the negative sentences you need to ad NON … look at these sample sentences…

• Io non sono alto… (I'm not tall)
• Lui non è anziano! (He is not old)
• Tu non hai i capelli biondi… (You do not have blonde hair)
• loro non hanno gli occhi verdi. (They do not have green eyes)

Talking about HAIR COLOR:

• HAIR : CAPELLI
• Hair color: Il colore dei capelli

These are some of the options that you have:

• Biondi (blonde)
• Castani (brown)
• Rossi (red)
• Neri (black)
• Bianchi (white

Let’s use them in some sentences:

• Emma ha i capelli castani (Emma has brown hair)
• Mario non ha i capelli bianchi! (Mario doesn't have white hair)
• Giovanna ha i capelli rossi (Giovanna has red hair)

 Hair length: La lunghezza dei capelli

• Corti (short hair)
• Lunghi (long hair)
• Altezza spalla (shoulder length… so not too long and not too short)
• Calvo (bold)

Let’s use them in some sentences:

• Maria ha i capelli lunghi (Maria has long hair)
• Gianni e Luca hanno i capelli corti (Gianni and Luca have short hair)
• Edoardo è calvo (Edoardo is bold)

The type of hair of a person: La tipologia di capelli

• Ricci (curly)
• Mossi (wavy)
• Lisci (straight)

Let’s use them in some sentences:

• Nina ha i capelli ricci (Nina has curly hair)
• Claudio ha i capelli lisci (Claudio has straight hair)
• Adele e Alice hanno i capelli mossi (Adele and Alice have wavy hair)

When you describe a person usually you also mention the color of their eyes.

Here are some options to describe eye color

Eye Color translates to: Il colore degli occhi

• Azzurri (blue)
• Neri (black)
• Marroni / castani (brown)
• Verdi (green)

Let’s use them in some sentences:

• Laura ha gli occhi azzurri (Laura has blue eyes)
• Alessandra ha gli occhi verdi (Alessandra has green eyes)
• Sandro e Fabio hanno gli occhi marroni (Sandro and Fabio have brown eyes)

Describing height : l'altezza a

• Alto (tall)
• Basso (short)
• di media statura (average height)

 In this case you will use the verb ESSERE (to be)

So for example:

• Sono bassa (I'm short)

Remember that here you will need to match gender and number!!!

If i’m referring to myself (and I'm a girl) I will have to say “sono bassa” if I'm referring to a boy I would say "è basso"

Same with plural…

• Le bambine sono basse (the girls are short)
• I bambini sono bassi (the boys are short)

If you are tall you will say

• sono alto

Or if you are of average height you will say:

• sono di media statura 

You can also describe your body - Il corpo

• Magro (thin)
• Grasso (grasso)
• Ne magro ne grasso! (which is when you are neither fat or thin… but an average size).

You can also use very generic adjectives to describe a person

For example if you find a person beautiful or ugly, young or old...

• Bello is beautiful
• brutto is ugly
• Giovane is young
• Vecchio is old

Let’s look at some sentences:

• Alessia è una ragazza molto bella! (Alessia is a beautiful girl)
• I bambini appena nati spesso sono brutti! (Newborns are often ugly!)
• Mio nonno ha 99 anni… è molto vecchio! (My grandpa is 99 years old he is very old!)
• Paolo è giovane! Ha 19 anni! (Paolo is young! He is 19 years old)

Remember that you can review the entire lesson by rewatching the video on YouTube or by downloading the PDF and the free flashcard with all the important words that you need to remember! Download everything here!

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