Describe People in Chinese: Looks & Personality (With Pinyin)
“What does your new landlord look like?” Easy in English, blank stare in Mandarin class. My students freeze here more than anywhere else, and it’s not a vocabulary-size problem — they learned nouns and verbs but never the 15 adjectives people actually use.
The Core Pattern: Subject + 很 + Adjective
Mandarin adjectives act like verbs — no “is” required:
他很高 — tā hěn gāo — “he is tall” (literally “he very tall”)
她很好看 — tā hěn hǎo kàn — “she is good-looking”
Drop 很 and it starts to sound like a comparison (“he’s the TALL one”), so keep it in for neutral descriptions. To add emphasis, swap in 特别 (tè bié, “especially”) or 超级 (chāo jí, “super”): 她特别漂亮 — tā tè bié piào liang — “she’s really pretty”.
30 Adjectives in Two Tables
Appearance first — these come up the moment you meet anyone:
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| tall | 高 | gāo |
| short (height) | 矮 | ǎi |
| thin | 瘦 | shòu |
| young | 年轻 | niánqīng |
| pretty | 漂亮 | piàoliang |
| handsome | 帅 | shuài |
| cute | 可爱 | kěài |
| wears glasses | 戴眼镜 | dài yǎnjìng |
| long hair | 长头发 | cháng tóu fa |
| short hair | 短头发 | duǎn tóu fa |
Then personality — the words that make you sound like you actually know someone:
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| funny | 幽默 | yōumò |
| reliable | 靠谱 | kàopǔ |
| generous, big-hearted | 大方 | dàfāng |
| stingy | 小气 | xiǎoqì |
| outgoing | 开朗 / 外向 | kāilǎng / wàixiàng |
| introverted | 内向 | nèixiàng |
| honest, well-behaved | 老实 | lǎoshí |
| smart | 聪明 | cōngmíng |
| careful, detail-oriented | 细心 | xìxīn |
| hardworking | 努力 | nǔlì |
What NOT to Say (a Cultural Warning)
Two adjectives top the “learned in class, dangerous in real life” list: 胖 (pàng, “fat”) and 老 (lǎo, “old”). Aim either at a person and the conversation cools fast.
- Don’t call someone 胖. If you must refer to it about a third party, soften it to 微胖 (wēipàng, “a bit plump”).
- Never call a person 老. Say 年龄大 (nián líng dà, “older”) or just talk around it.
- Men with a solid build are 壮 (zhuàng, “strong”), not 胖. Compliment received, awkwardness avoided.
Heights are metric and given in meters: 他有一米八 — tā yǒu yì mǐ bā — “he’s 1.80 m”. Learn your own height in meters; you’ll say it at the gym, the airport, and every first meeting for the rest of your time in China.
Questions You’ll Hear — and How to Ask
People will ask: 他长什么样? (tā zhǎng shén me yàng — “what does he look like?”) and 他的性格怎么样? (tā de xìng gé zěn me yàng — “what’s his personality like?”). Two answers that cover most situations:
- 他看起来挺靠谱的 — tā kàn qǐ lái tǐng kào pǔ de — “he seems pretty reliable”
- 她人很好，就是有点小气 — tā rén hěn hǎo, jiù shì yǒu diǎn xiǎo qì — “she’s nice, just a bit stingy”
That second one is my landlord, by the way. And the structure behind it — praise first, a small flaw after 就是 — is how native speakers give balanced, human descriptions. Nobody is all 优点 (yōu diǎn, “good points”), and Chinese has a built-in grammar for saying so.
The Tone Pair That Bites
ǎi (矮, “short”) and ài (爱, “love”) share every sound except the tone. Flatten the third-tone dip and you’ve just told someone you love them mid-conversation. I drill students on pairs like this — ǎi, ài, ǎi, ài — until the difference is reflex. If you only practice one thing from this article, make it that pair.