How to Describe Personality in English | Advanced Vocabulary

I've got a question for you. What are you like? What are you into?

How would you describe your perfect weekend?

How would you describe your work style?

Or how would you describe your attitude toward life?

How would you describe the way that you deal with others?

There's one thing all of these questions have in common: a request to better understand you, your personality.

In both personal and professional situations, it's not uncommon to have questions that seek to better understand who you are, and that means you'll need to have the right vocabulary in English to talk about how you think, how you feel, how you act or behave.

If you've ever felt unsure of how to talk about your unique characteristics in an English conversation, in a job interview, or even on your social media bio, you're not alone.

That's why in this Confident English lesson today, we're going to explore dynamic sentence starters, rich personality-focused vocabulary and real-life examples, so you know exactly how to describe who you are.

You'll be able to paint a vivid picture of your character.

That means that by the end, you'll be a hundred percent ready with the words and the confidence you need to say, this is who I am, this is what I'm about, even better.

Everything you learn here today is not only helpful to describe your own personality, but to also describe the personality of others, your best friend, your high school sweetheart, your family members, or describing people at work.

Now, before we get there, if this is your first time here, welcome.

I'm Annemarie, an English confidence and fluency coach.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your life and work in English.

If you'd love to explore years of my Confident English lessons and get a variety of free resources for me, you can find all of that and more over at my Speak Confident English.com website. Now, to navigate this lesson today,

website. Now, to navigate this lesson today, there are three things I want to share with you. First,

we'll talk about some dynamic sentence starters.

These are sentence starters we typically use anytime someone asks a personality-focused question. Then we're going to talk about qualifiers. Now,

personality-focused question. Then we're going to talk about qualifiers. Now,

if you're not sure what those are, don't worry.

We're gonna talk all about them and why they're so important when we're talking about our character traits. And finally,

I've got six different stories or examples to share with you so that you can see how we would approach talking about our personality and balance the characteristics that we feel great about, characteristics that we're proud of, and those that we might feel a little bit hesitant about. So first,

let's get to some of these common sentence starters.

If in a job interview or in just a personal conversation, someone asks, how would you describe yourself?

Here are a few ways you can begin sharing those unique qualities.

I would say, I would say that I'm, or if you're talking about someone else, I would say that she's or he's, I would say that she's quite open-minded, a second option. Some would say that I am, but I think, or some would say that he's, but I think for example, some would say he's rather strict,

but I think he's focused on being well organized to ensure clarity in the office. Number three, I am, I am a goal-oriented person. Next,

I have a good sense of, for example, with strong listening skills, I have a good sense of what people really need or really want, which helps me in my sales position.

I'd describe myself as, or I'd describe her as, I'd describe myself as a problem solver. I guess I'm, I guess I'm pretty reserved at work. And finally,

I would like to think that this expresses something that you hope is true about you.

I would like to think that I'm very sociable now in a moment as we continue and I share real-life examples, I will highlight the definitions of several vocabulary words I use, but if you want to review them carefully, you can find them all at this lesson over at my Speak Confident English website.

In addition to personality-focused vocabulary, there's one other thing you heard me use in those example sentences.

Qualifiers are words that help us show to what degree something is true or not true, or how strong something is.

It can also soften a statement. For example,

I might be extremely reserved at work or somewhat reserved at work.

This indicates the level of strength for that particular characteristic.

One example I shared included, I guess I'm pretty reserved, the words guess and pretty are both qualifiers.

The first ones signals a level of uncertainty.

It questions how true that is, and the second one indicates the level of strength. Am I, again, extremely reserved or pretty reserved in this context, pretty does not mean something that is lovely to look at. Instead,

it means somewhat or rather quite, quite reserved.

Now, in a moment, I'm going to introduce you to several more qualifiers, and I do want to share a note of caution here.

Qualifiers can be used to soften a statement, and we tend to use them if there's a personality characteristic that we are unsure of, or maybe it's one that we're not really proud of, so we want to soften it a bit. If we overuse them, they can also indicate a lack of self-confidence. For example,

if you are good at problem-solving, then say that you're a problem solver.

Don't say that you're kind of a problem solver.

It's okay to own your personality characteristics.

You'll see examples of this as we continue, but first, here's a common list of qualifiers you might hear when someone's talking about their personality. We've already discussed guess and pretty.

their personality. We've already discussed guess and pretty.

There's also very, quite rather, somewhat, fairly, really a bit, a little, a whole lot kind of and sort of let's take a look at three quick sentences that highlight the use of qualifiers. Number one,

he's fairly quiet at work, but he becomes rather talkative outside of the office. Number two,

she's pretty studious. She'll definitely do well in her exams. And number three, I can be a bit moody, especially if I'm hungry. In fact,

I can get rather hangry sometimes.

Hangry is slang. It's a word that combines two words in English, hungry and angry.

If you know anyone that typically gets rather irritable or angry when they're hungry, this is a great word to use. Now,

telling someone that I am moody is something I may not be proud of.

So I'm using qualifiers to soften that statement with all of that in place, those sentence starters and the use of qualifiers.

Let's take a look at six real life examples.

You'll see that each example clearly describes someone's personality, balancing the positive and the negative, while also including examples to explain a particular word choice.

As we go through these examples, I want you to listen closely and begin to identify the words that describe you, because of course, I've got a question for you to practice at the end.

Example, number one, I guess the most important or the most obvious thing about me is I'm a bit of an introvert. If I'm at a party, for example, I'm always the wallflower, but that doesn't mean I don't like being around people. I actually love it.

I thrive on deep conversations where I feel a strong connection with someone, and I'd like to think I'm a good listener and a good conversationalist. Let's talk about a few of those words.

conversationalist. Let's talk about a few of those words.

You are probably familiar with the word introvert.

This describes someone who tends to need a lot of alone time.

They get their energy from being alone.

They can also be rather reserved in more social situations, which leads others to describe introverts as being shy.

That isn't always true, but that is sometimes the perception that's there.

And of course, the opposite of an introvert is an extrovert, someone who is highly social.

They get energy from being in social situations.

The word wallflower is a word that is also often associated with being an introvert.

A wallflower describes someone who is typically shy in social situations.

I always like to tell my students to imagine a party full of people.

And of course you have some individuals who are in the middle of everybody.

They're talking to, everyone laughing with everyone.

And then you have a few people who love to stay close to the walls.

They sort of stay in the background and they might talk with someone at length and enjoy a very deep, meaningful conversation.

Those individuals are probably the wallflowers.

Another great word here is to thrive. To thrive on deep conversation.

To thrive means to prosper, to succeed, to shine.

And finally, I'd like to think I'm a good conversationalist.

A conversationalist is someone who enjoys and who contributes to a conversation. Now,

it's important to not confuse this with someone who does all the talking.

Someone who does all the talking is not really a good conversationalist.

They are dominating the conversation.

They're not giving room for anyone else to participate.

A conversationalist does both.

They participate and they give opportunity for others to participate as well.

That requires clear communication skills and fantastic listening skills.

Example number two, oh, that's easy. I'm super loyal, determined, and goal-driven. I'll do almost anything to get what I want.

I suppose a lot of people would say I'm stubborn, but I prefer to see the positive.

I'll always find a way or a solution that's not only true for me, but for my friends and family as well. Well,

I'll do anything to help them out. Alright, here,

let's talk about that word determined.

This describes someone who has made a decision and has resolved to find a way to reach a particular goal or to make that decision happen. Now, as you may have noticed in the language here,

decision happen. Now, as you may have noticed in the language here, we associated determined with the word stubborn.

Stubborn tends to have a more negative connotation.

So the speaker used a qualifier to soften that particular description and they added on their own way to think about that particular word goal-driven, of course, is someone who is motivated by goals.

They are focused on achieving their goals.

I mentioned a moment ago that stubborn is possibly associated with words such as determined, but it has a more negative connotation.

If someone is described as being stubborn, they're unwilling to compromise or to do something in a different way, they're unwilling to move. And finally,

I want to talk about the phrasal verb to help someone out.

When you help someone out, you do something to make someone else's task, job or life easier. And now example three.

I'd say I'm pretty easygoing and social.

I love to crack jokes to make people laugh at work.

I'm the guy that gets along with everyone and I feel good knowing other people are comfortable around me. The downside of being that guy, the life of the party guy, is that other people think I can't be serious.

I'm afraid my boss might think that actually. But when I need to, I can be very focused. Here we've got the adjective easygoing.

This is used to describe someone who's friendly and relaxed.

You never really see them get stressed out or frustrated.

And if someone likes to crack jokes, they like to tell quick, witty jokes.

They're very fast with making quick funny replies.

The phrasal verb to get along with someone means that someone is able to be on friendly terms with other people very easily.

And finally, this particular individual described himself as a life of the party kind of guy. If you describe someone as being the life of the party, this idiomatic expression indicates that someone is super sociable and makes sociable events very fun.

They're likely at the center of everything.

And now let's move on to example number four.

I think others would say I'm very reliable, which I like.

I do like to take care of problems and help others.

And I'd also say I'm hardworking and diligent.

I feel great when I complete a project at work. And I know I've done it well.

Sometimes I wish I were more of an ideas person, but I guess I'm the person who will get things done.

Let's start with the word reliable.

Someone who is reliable is someone that you can expect to get things done, to get them done on time and with an appropriate result.

You might also describe someone who is reliable as dependable or responsible.

The phrasal verb used here to take care of means to be attentive to or to do things that address the needs of other people. If you take care of a friend, for example, you're helping to meet the needs of that particular friend.

Another great adjective we had here was diligent.

Someone who is diligent is focused, steady and energetic in their efforts.

And finally, an ideas person.

This collocation or figure of speech would be used to describe someone who is innovative, someone who is good at thinking of new ideas.

I'm curious if you've started to identify some words that might describe you as well. If you have, keep taking those notes.

well. If you have, keep taking those notes.

I've got a question for you at the end, but before we get there, I wanna share two more examples with you. Example five,

I'm the kind of person who values collaboration and generosity, especially at work. Rather than compete against my peers, I prefer to pool our shared knowledge so that we succeed as a team.

This also leads to a more convivial and productive work environment.

In this example, we were introduced to two nouns that highlight what someone values, generosity and collaboration.

Collaboration is any time two or more people work together to achieve something together.

And generosity is the act of giving, giving money, giving time, giving effort, and usually doing so in a way that is more than what was expected.

Then we had an interesting verb use to pool shared knowledge.

Now, I'm sure you're familiar with a pool, a pool that people swim in Here, the verb form takes on a very different meaning.

To pool means to put things together, to put money together or ideas together in a way that can be shared among a group of people or with a cause. For example,

someone might pool money in order to give to an organization.

The collocation, shared knowledge, as you might expect, is knowledge that is shared, divided, experienced, or felt among a group of people, not just by one.

And finally, convivial can be used to describe an individual, a situation or an atmosphere, and it indicates that someone is friendly or welcoming or that that particular situation is friendly and welcoming.

And now our final example, I've heard others say that I'm rather direct, and I suppose they're right, although I might prefer to say I'm efficient with problem solving.

I'm not afraid of tough conversations, and I'll get straight to the point when I need to. That said,

I aim for a diplomatic approach to delicate conversations, communicating with respect and consideration.

The adjective direct is used to describe someone who says what they think in a very honest way.

And without worrying about other people's opinions, we often associate the adjective direct with the language to get straight to the point.

This idiom means to communicate in a way that gets to the most important or the most crucial part immediately.

They don't waste time with small talk or other details.

They go right to the core of the matter.

Here we also have the adjective efficient, which can be used to describe a person, a process, a system, a machine.

And it means that that individual or that process works quickly and it works well. Lastly,

we had the words diplomatic and consideration. The adjective.

Diplomatic is used to describe someone who speaks and acts in a way that doesn't cause any offense.

It's very soft language. And finally,

to do something with consideration means to do something with a lot of thought, to do it very carefully. Now, as you might guess, it's time for you to practice, and I would love for you to take into consideration all the words that you've learned in this lesson today. Identify a few that describe you.

Imagine for example, you are at a party, you meet a friend of a friend, and during some conversation you start to have some connections.

Someone gets curious and they say, so tell me about you.

What are you into? What are you like?

Or perhaps you're at a job interview in English, and the interviewer asks, how would your coworkers describe you? If you want, you can share your examples with me in the comments below.

And if you're not comfortable describing yourself, you could also describe someone you know, consider a coworker or a friend. Now,

if you choose that option, please don't share any names.

We want to respect privacy, so you can simply refer to a friend of mine or a coworker of mine.

With that, if you've found today's lesson helpful to you, I would love to know.

As always, you can tell me in a few simple ways. Number one,

give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube and share a comment with me below.

Number two, make sure you subscribe to my Speak Confident English Channel so you never miss one of my Confident English lessons. And finally,

go on over to my Speak Confident English website, review the lessons I have available, the free resources you can download.

And I recommend that you get my in-depth fluency training called How to Get the Confidence to Say What You Want In English.

Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time.