A2.2 · 18 of 36

Sprechen: Personen beschreiben

Lesson · 4 rules · about 4 min

Show someone a photo and tell them who that is: tall or small, dark hair or blond, funny or quiet. A few sentence frames cover anyone.

  1. 1sein + adjective, no ending
  2. 2haben + adjective + noun — endings as chunks
  3. 3Adjectives in pairs
  4. 4tragen for clothes and glasses, sich interessieren für for hobbies
Why this matters

Twelve sentences that describe one person — Paul, a best friend: age and origin, appearance, clothes, character, hobbies, and a closing question back to you. Er ist groß und schlank. Er hat kurze, dunkle Haare und braune Augen. Er ist sehr freundlich und lustig. Describing people is something you do all the time (a photo, a friend, a family member, someone you are meeting at the station), and the pattern is simple: sein + adjective for build and character (groß, schlank, freundlich, lustig, chaotisch), haben + a noun with an adjective for hair and eyes (kurze Haare, braune Augen — here you meet adjective endings, as chunks), tragen for clothes and glasses. Learn the adjectives in opposite pairs and the sentence frames, and you can describe anyone.

Phrase 1 of 12

Mein bester Freund heißt Paul.

My best friend is called Paul.

Speech recognition isn't available in this browser — say the phrase out loud and move on when you're happy with it.