- Hello everyone, and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today, I've got a slightly longer video lesson for you.

We're going to be talking about vocabulary,

and more specifically, how to describe people's appearances.

Now, this is a really, really important topic.

It's normally one of the first things that you learn

when you start to learn English,

but I want to go a bit more in depth.

Normally, people are able to describe basic appearances.

I want to teach you slightly more advanced vocabulary

so that you can really give an accurate description

of people's appearances.

If you find understanding me slightly difficult,

you can switch on subtitles, and so you'll be able to

see the words at the bottom of the screen.

Quickly, before we get started, this video will help you

with your speaking and your writing and your vocabulary.

It will also help you with your listening,

because you will be listening to me

and learning more vocabulary.

But if you want to take your listening

and your pronunciation to the next level,

why not try audible.com.

Audible is a website where you can

download and listen to audio books.

They've got thousands of titles.

I listen to them myself when I go on my long runs.

It takes me about a marathon to finish a book,

but I really enjoy it.

If you download books in English, it's an excellent way

of improving your listening and your pronunciation.

They are giving you a free audio book.

All you have to do is click on the link

in the description box and sign up.

And if after one month you don't want to pay,

you can cancel it, it's completely free.

I've recommended some books

in the description box with British accents.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So, firstly, we're going to talk about people's bodies.

And I think I'm going to start by

talking about height, how tall somebody is.

So you might already know these basic terms,

short and tall, short and tall.

But what about if somebody is a normal height?

Well, there are a couple of ways that you can express this.

You can say they are of average height,

they are of medium height.

If you want to be more precise and say

their actual height, in centimetres,

or feet and inches, you can say, "around".

So I would say I am around five foot six.

I'm actually five foot five and a half, but

sometimes I say I'm five foot six.

Other words that you can include are very or quite.

So, he is very tall, or she is quite short.

Next, we have body type and weight.

Now, you have to be a little bit careful

when describing somebody's body type or their weight,

because you can hurt their feelings.

So firstly, I'm going to give you some positive adjectives

to describe somebody's weight, and then afterwards,

I'll give you the more negative ones,

so that you can understand when or when not to use them.

But, I will warn you, weight, in the UK, especially,

and many other places in the world,

is a very sensitive subject, so,

if you think you might insult somebody,

it's often best not to say anything at all.

But that's not my role here, I'm teaching you words.

So, let's get started (laughs).

So, we have thin and fat.

These are generally considered to be negative words.

So let's talk about some positive alternatives.

For thin, you can describe somebody as slender or slim.

They are really nice words.

If somebody called me slender or slim, I'd be flattered.

Another word is lean, and this means

that they're just skin and muscle.

It's a positive word, because it means they're in shape.

They're muscly, there's no fat on them, they're lean.

You can also call somebody petite, and this

is when somebody has a small build.

It's normally used to describe females

who have small shoulders, they're quite short.

They're just like a woman, only smaller.

They're petite.

If somebody is very thin, you can call them slight.

They're very slight.

And another one is lanky.

This means that somebody is tall and very thin.

It means they've got long limbs, lanky.

If somebody has got a bit of meat on them,

you don't want to call them fat, but some nice words

you can use are curvy, this means that women have curves.

Curvaceous, as well, womanly, voluptuous,

this means normally that they've got

quite a big bum and big boobs.

They're normally flattering when used in a non-creepy way.

For a man, stocky, well built, muscly.

Okay, now to touch on the negative words.

Some quite soft ones for somebody who is larger

are plump, chubby, round.

This doesn't mean fat or big, it just means

that they've got a little bit extra on them

You can also say overweight, large, big, heavy.

And if somebody is very thin, you can call them

underweight, skinny, bony, if you can see their bones.

One word that is often used to describe very thin people

that shouldn't really be used is anorexic.

It's a medical term, it's not actually an adjective

to describe somebody's physical appearance.

So try to avoid that one.

Okay, let's move on to hair.

Now, there are two ways in which

you can talk about somebody's hair colour.

You can say to have, adjective, hair,

or to be, adjective, dash, haired.

For example, I have blonde hair.

I am blonde-haired.

The second one is a bit of a mouthful actually,

to be blonde-haired.

I am blonde-haired.

You can also just say, I am blonde.

But that's better to use for colours

that are very specific to hair colours,

like blonde, and ginger, and brunette.

So I am blonde, I am ginger, I am brunette, that's fine.

But if you say, I am white, or I am black,

it could be confused with skin-colour.

So it's best to say I am black-haired, I have white hair.

So we've got a huge spectrum of colours that you can be.

I'm going to talk about the most common ones,

but they are quite specific, and you might not

have heard of them all before.

So let's start with the lightest, and move to the darkest.

So, we have white, then we have grey, then we have

platinum blonde, and this is white-blonde hair.

It's normally not a natural colour, but some people

are lucky enough to have naturally white-blonde

or platinum hair, it's a really interesting colour.

Then we have blonde.

If it's a bit darker, it could be called golden.

And then, if it's a bit darker than blonde,

there are two ways you can describe it.

If it's blonde, almost brown, you can say dirty blonde.

If it's blonde, almost ginger,

you can say strawberry blonde.

Then we have ginger, which is more orange,

and red, which is a darker red colour, obviously.

After that, you have mousy brown,

which is a light brown colour.

Then brown, then brunette, as well,

which is another way of saying brown hair.

It's normally a bit darker.

Then, dark brown, and then black.

Now, if you don't want to specify a colour of hair

or skin or eyes, and you just want to say light or dark,

you can say fair for light, or dark for the darker colours.

So, I am fair, I have fair eyes, fair hair, and fair skin.

This means I am just light.

Somebody else might have dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin.

So, we normally use fair or dark.

So, what about hair length.

Well, if you have no hair, then you are bald.

I am bald.

In a video that I did on Aly's channel,

Papa Teach Me English, I was bald.

If you would like to see me with no hair,

and, well, no feminine makeup, different makeup,

then you can click up there.

See if you recognise me, I look slightly different.

Then you have short hair, long hair.

But then in between, you can have a bob,

I have a bob haircut, in my first videos,

I had very short hair in a bob haircut.

I didn't ask for that haircut, it was a surprise.

Shoulder-length hair, medium-length hair, long hair.

If you want to say how long your hair is,

you can say, "My hair goes down to my ..."

So, my hair goes down to my armpit.

My hair goes down to my waist.

As far as hair texture, you can have straight hair,

wavy hair, curly hair, afro hair,

which is really, really dense curls.

The quality of your hair can also be described.

If your hair is very soft, it can be silky or shiny.

If it's not soft, if it's quite damaged,

you can say you have dry hair,

or you can say it's straw-like.

So, let's move on to the subject of skin.

This again, is a more difficult one.

So, we have the spectrum of white and black.

But different people like to be called different things.

So, I would call myself white.

I have a lot of friends with darker skin

who are often called black, but

they would actually prefer to be called brown.

I would say when in doubt, use fair or dark

to describe somebody's skin tone.

Now, in the middle, we have tanned.

This means that you've been blessed by the sun,

you've caught a sun tan, you've gone brown in the sun.

And in British English, we say tanned,

and in American English, they say tan.

If you're not tanned, then you are pale.

And that is what I am all of the time.

I am always pale, even when I go on holiday.

Now, let's move on to eye colour.

Again, you can use fair or dark.

Fair eyes, light eyes, dark eyes.

So you can say, to have, adjective, eyes,

or to be, adjective, dash, eyed.

So, I have grey eyes, I am grey-eyed.

I am dark-eyed.

Most of the colours are pretty simple,

blue, brown, green, black, grey, brown.

I've said brown, haven't I?

But one colour that's used quite frequently is hazel.

If you have a sort of a browny-green eye,

it can be called hazel.

So, they have hazel eyes.

Now, lips.

You can have thin lips, but if you want to talk about

somebody with big lips, you can say they have full lips.

So if somebody has big, kissy, pouty lips,

you can say they have very full lips.

If somebody has really sticky out lips and speaks like this,

you can call them pouty lips.

But yes, full or thin, really.

Next, you can talk about noses.

So, big or small, obviously, are the basics.

If somebody has a bend in their nose,

it can be called a crooked nose, a crooked nose.

If they haven't got a bend in their nose,

it can be a straight nose.

If somebody has a small nose, you can call it a button nose.

If they've got a hook, a hooked nose.

If somebody's nose is like this,

it's a turned up nose, or an upturned nose.