Describing People in Polish: Looks & Character

"Which one is Michał?" — after this lesson you can answer: the tall one, dark hair, glasses, always cheerful. Descriptions run on the ma-pattern plus the adjective agreement you've owned since Chapter 1.

Height and Age

wysoki (tall), niski (short), młody (young), stary (old — starszy is politer for people: older). All agreeing as usual: wysoki mężczyzna, wysoka kobieta.

Hair and Eyes

The pattern: ma + accusative — someone has their features.

Wearing

nosi okulary — wears glasses; and the elegant pointing form w okularach — in glasses: pan w okularach, kobieta w czerwonym płaszczu (the woman in the red coat). Detective-novel Polish, daily-life useful.

Character

miły (kind), wesoły (cheerful), poważny (serious), nieśmiały (shy), zabawny (funny). Ask with Jaki on jest? / Jaka ona jest? — what are they like?

Common Mistakes

• jest długie włosy. Features go through mieć: ma długie włosy.
• Frozen adjectives. miły/miła/miłe track the person: ona jest miła.
• stary about someone present. starszy pan — the polite “older gentleman” — spares feelings.

What You Can Do Now

You can describe anyone's looks and personality, find a stranger in a crowd from a description, and answer jaki jest? with something better than "nice".