LinguaIl est comment ? Elle est comment ? Asking what someone is like
To ask what a person is like – looks or character – say Il est comment ? for a man and Elle est comment ? for a woman; comment sits at the end, as in the questions you know. The answer is être + adjective, and the adjective agrees: Il est grand, Elle est grande. You know the basic rule: add -e for a woman (petit / petite, blond / blonde, brun / brune), and nothing changes if the adjective already ends in -e (mince, jeune, timide, drôle). Two endings to learn separately: -eux becomes -euse (sérieux / sérieuse), and -g takes a -ue (long / longue). Sympa, short for sympathique, never takes an extra -e: il est sympa, elle est sympa.
| Masculine | Feminine | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grand | grande | tall |
| petit | petite | short, small |
| mince | mince | slim |
| jeune | jeune | young |
| âgé | âgée | elderly |
| sérieux | sérieuse | serious |
| drôle | drôle | funny |
| timide | timide | shy |
| sympa | sympa | nice, friendly |
– Ton frère est comment ? – Il est grand, mince et très sympa.– What is your brother like? – He is tall, slim and very nice.
Les yeux bleus, les cheveux courts: looks with avoir
Eyes and hair are described with avoir and, surprisingly, with les, not with a possessive: Il a les yeux bleus (he has blue eyes), Elle a les cheveux longs (she has long hair). Les yeux is the plural of un œil, and les cheveux is always plural for hair on the head, so the adjective takes -s: bleus, verts, courts, longs, blonds, bruns, noirs. The colour marron (brown, for eyes) never changes: les yeux marron. Age uses avoir too, and the question is Il a quel âge ? – Il a trente ans. For an older person, âgé is the polite word; vieux is blunter.
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Il a les yeux bleus. | he has blue eyes – les, not ses |
| Elle a les yeux marron. | she has brown eyes – marron never changes |
| Tu as les cheveux courts et noirs. | you have short black hair – two adjectives, both with -s |
| Ils ont les cheveux longs et blonds. | they have long blond hair |
| Elle a quel âge ? – Elle a vingt ans. | how old is she? – she is twenty |
Ma cousine a les cheveux longs et les yeux verts ; elle a dix-neuf ans.My cousin has long hair and green eyes; she is nineteen.
Très, assez, un peu: how much of it
Three little words go before the adjective to measure it: très (very), assez (quite, rather) and un peu (a little): Il est très grand. Elle est assez timide. Il est un peu sérieux. They never change form. Un peu is the polite softener for a fault – un peu timide is kinder than timide – and for looks the French soften with pas très: Il n’est pas très grand is the tactful way to say someone is short. Trop (too) you already know; it is the strongest of all: trop sérieux. Word order is fixed: être, then the measure, then the adjective.
| Degree | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| un peu | Elle est un peu timide. | a little – softens a fault |
| assez | Mon oncle est assez âgé. | quite, rather |
| très | Tes cousins sont très drôles. | very |
| pas très | Il n’est pas très grand. | not very – the tactful “short” |
| trop | Ma sœur est trop sérieuse. | too – the strongest |
Mon grand-père est un peu timide, mais il est très drôle avec les enfants.My grandfather is a little shy, but he is very funny with children.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| les yeux | the eyes (plural of un œil) | Léa a les yeux noirs. Léa has dark eyes. |
| les cheveux | the hair (always plural) | Zoé a les cheveux très longs. Zoé has very long hair. |
| bleu | blue | Mon fils a les yeux bleus. My son has blue eyes. |
| brun | brown; dark-haired | Marc a les cheveux bruns. Marc has brown hair. |
| blond | blond, fair-haired | Ma cousine est blonde. My cousin is blonde. |
| court | short (hair, things) | Karim a les cheveux courts. Karim has short hair. |
| long | long (feminine: longue) | Ma tante a les cheveux longs et gris. My aunt has long grey hair. |
| mince | slim | Mon grand-père est grand et mince. My grandfather is tall and slim. |
| jeune | young | Le professeur est jeune, il a vingt-cinq ans. The teacher is young, he is twenty-five. |
| âgé | elderly, old (polite) | Nos voisins sont assez âgés. Our neighbours are quite elderly. |
| sympa | nice, friendly (invariable) | Ta mère est très sympa ! Your mother is very nice! |
| timide | shy | Mon cousin est un peu timide. My cousin is a little shy. |
| drôle | funny | Ton amie est drôle et sympa. Your friend is funny and nice. |
| sérieux | serious (feminine: sérieuse) | Sa fille est sérieuse à l’école. His daughter is serious at school. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
You want to know what Léa’s brother is like. Which question do you ask?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.