Personality words describe what a person is usually like. Emotion words describe how a person feels at one time. We often use adjectives for both personality and emotions.

Common personality traits help you describe people clearly. Some words describe kind and easy people, and some words describe strict or difficult people. These words usually describe a person’s general character, not a short feeling.

Word or Phrase	Definition
kind	This describes a person who is nice to other people.
friendly	This describes a person who likes talking to people and is easy to know.
shy	This describes a person who feels nervous with new people.
quiet	This describes a person who does not talk a lot.
funny	This describes a person who makes other people laugh.
serious	This describes a person who does not joke much.

Positive character qualities describe good things in a person’s personality. These words are useful when you want to say why you like or respect someone. They describe stable parts of character.

Word or Phrase	Definition
helpful	This describes a person who likes helping other people.
honest	This describes a person who tells the truth.
patient	This describes a person who can wait and stay calm.
hard-working	This describes a person who works a lot and does not stop easily.
calm	This describes a person who does not get angry or worried quickly.
polite	This describes a person who speaks and acts in a respectful way.

Negative character qualities describe difficult or unpleasant parts of personality. They help you talk about problems in someone’s character. These words describe usual behavior, not one small action.

Word or Phrase	Definition
lazy	This describes a person who does not like working.
rude	This describes a person who is not polite.
selfish	This describes a person who thinks mostly about themselves.
bossy	This describes a person who tells other people what to do too much.
mean	This describes a person who is unkind to other people.
impatient	This describes a person who cannot wait calmly.

Emotion words describe feelings at a moment or during a situation. They can change during the day. We often use these adjectives after be to say how someone feels.

Word or Phrase	Definition
happy	This describes a feeling of pleasure or joy.
sad	This describes a feeling of unhappiness.
angry	This describes a feeling of strong annoyance.
afraid	This describes a feeling of fear.
surprised	This describes a feeling when something unexpected happens.
tired	This describes a feeling of needing rest.

We often use adjectives with be to describe emotions. The subject comes first, then a form of be, and then the feeling adjective. This pattern is common for talking about how a person feels now.

Subject	Form
I	am
you	are
he	is
she	is
we	are
they	are

Some emotion words are close in meaning, but they are not the same strength. A weaker word shows a small feeling, and a stronger word shows a bigger feeling. Grouping words in this way helps you choose the right adjective.

Word or Phrase	Definition
sad	This describes a general unhappy feeling.
upset	This describes a stronger feeling of sadness or worry.
disappointed	This describes sadness because something was not as good as you hoped.
annoyed	This describes a small feeling of anger.
angry	This describes a stronger feeling of anger.
furious	This describes a very strong feeling of anger.

You can now describe a person’s usual character with personality adjectives and describe feelings with emotion adjectives. You can talk about positive and negative qualities and choose between similar emotion words such as sad, upset, and disappointed. You can also use be with feeling adjectives to say how someone feels.