Describing People and Places

Describing People and Places

In this chapter you learn how to describe what people look like and what places are like, using the adjectives and basic grammar you already know. You will use simple present tense, the verb “to be,” and very common adjectives to talk about appearance, character, and physical surroundings.

Describing People: Physical Appearance

To describe what someone looks like in Persian, you usually say “Subject + is + adjective” or “Subject + has + noun.” You already know the verb “to be,” so here we focus on useful patterns and vocabulary.

Very often, a full descriptive sentence about a person has this structure:

Subject + “to be” + adjective
or
Subject + “to have” + noun phrase

For example:

او قدبلند است.
u qad-boland ast.
“He / She is tall.”

او موهای بلند دارد.
u muhā-ye boland dārad.
“He / She has long hair.”

In spoken informal Persian, you usually hear:

اون قدبلنده.
un qad-bolande.
“He / She is tall.”

اون موهاش بلنده.
un muhāsh bolande.
“His / her hair is long.”

You can combine several adjectives in a row. Persian often puts the general category first, then more detail:

او یک مرد قدبلند و لاغر است.
u yek mard-e qad-boland o lāghar ast.
“He is a tall and thin man.”

او یک زن جوان و زیباست.
u yek zan-e javān o zibāst.
“She is a young and beautiful woman.”

Notice that “yek” (one / a) is often used like “a” or “an” in English when you introduce someone: “a tall man,” “a young woman,” and that “o” connects adjectives like “and.”

Common adjectives for bodies and faces

Here are some very frequent words to describe size and general appearance:

او چاق است.
u chāq ast.
“He / She is fat.”

او لاغر است.
u lāghar ast.
“He / She is thin.”

او خوش‌هیکل است.
u khosh-heykal ast.
“He / She has a good figure.”

او قوی است.
u qavi ast.
“He / She is strong.”

قد in Persian means “height.” To talk about someone’s height:

او قدبلند است.
u qad-boland ast.
“He / She is tall.”

او قدکوتاه است.
u qad-kutāh ast.
“He / She is short.”

For the face, you meet some very typical words:

او زیبا است.
u zibā ast.
“She is beautiful.”

او خوش‌قیافه است.
u khosh-qiyāfe ast.
“He is good-looking.”

او معمولی است.
u ma‘muli ast.
“He / She is average / ordinary.”

When you say someone is “old” or “young,” be careful with politeness. جوان “young” is neutral. پیر “old” can be sensitive for people, but is very common for objects or clearly old people:

او جوان است.
u javān ast.
“He / She is young.”

او پیر است.
u pir ast.
“He / She is old.”

Hair, eyes, and other details

To describe hair and eyes, Persian usually uses “has” (داشتن dāshtan). The usual pattern is:

Subject + “has” + noun phrase
or, more literally, “hair of him / her is …”

For hair:

او موهای مشکی دارد.
u muhā-ye meshki dārad.
“He / She has black hair.”

او موهای کوتاه دارد.
u muhā-ye kutāh dārad.
“He / She has short hair.”

او موی بلوند دارد.
u mui-ye bolond dārad.
“He / She has blond hair.”

You can also say:

موهای او مشکی است.
muhā-ye u meshki ast.
“His / her hair is black.”

For eyes:

او چشم‌های قهوه‌ای دارد.
u cheshmhā-ye qahve’i dārad.
“He / She has brown eyes.”

چشم‌های او سبز است.
cheshmhā-ye u sabz ast.
“His / her eyes are green.”

Here you see plural forms with ها “chasmhā,” but you will meet plurals in more detail elsewhere. At this level, just notice that چشم “eye,” چشم‌ها “eyes.”

You can also mention glasses, beard, or moustache:

او عینک دارد.
u ‘eynak dārad.
“He / She has glasses.” / “He / She wears glasses.”

او ریش دارد.
u rish dārad.
“He has a beard.”

او سبیل دارد.
u sebil dārad.
“He has a moustache.”

You can easily combine physical details in a short description:

او یک مرد قدبلند با موهای مشکی و ریش است.
u yek mard-e qad-boland bā muhā-ye meshki va rish ast.
“He is a tall man with black hair and a beard.”

Describing People: Character and Personality

To talk about what a person is like on the inside, Persian again uses “Subject + to be + adjective.”

Here are common personality adjectives that you can use in simple sentences:

او مهربان است.
u mehrabān ast.
“He / She is kind.”

او آرام است.
u ārām ast.
“He / She is calm.”

او شاد است.
u shād ast.
“He / She is happy / cheerful.”

او اجتماعی است.
u ejtemā‘i ast.
“He / She is sociable.”

او خجالتی است.
u khejālati ast.
“He / She is shy.”

او باهوش است.
u bāhush ast.
“He / She is intelligent.”

او تنبل است.
u tanbal ast.
“He / She is lazy.”

او سخت‌کوش است.
u sakht-kush ast.
“He / She is hardworking.”

You can easily say “He is very …” by adding خیلی “kheyli” before the adjective:

You can also combine appearance and character:

او یک دختر جوان، زیبا و باهوش است.
u yek dokhtar-e javān, zibā va bāhush ast.
“She is a young, beautiful, and intelligent girl.”

Describing Places: General Impression

To describe a place, such as a room, house, city, or country, you again use “Subject + to be + adjective.” very often with the name of the place or a noun like “city,” “room,” “house.”

For example:

تهران شهر بزرگی است.
Tehrān shahr-e bozorgi ast.
“Tehran is a big city.”

این اتاق کوچک است.
in otāq kutāh ast.
“This room is small.”

خانه‌ی او قدیمی است.
khāne-ye u qadimi ast.
“His / her house is old.”

این شهر شلوغ است.
in shahr sholugh ast.
“This city is crowded.”

To express the general feeling of a place, you can use adjectives that describe atmosphere or mood:

این شهر آرام است.
in shahr ārām ast.
“This city is calm.”

این رستوران شیک است.
in resturān shik ast.
“This restaurant is stylish / chic.”

این محله خطرناک است.
in mahale khatarnāk ast.
“This neighborhood is dangerous.”

این خیابان تمیز است.
in khiābān tamiz ast.
“This street is clean.”

این پارک زیبا است.
in pārk zibā ast.
“This park is beautiful.”

If you want to be stronger, again use خیلی:

این شهر خیلی بزرگ است.
in shahr kheyli bozorg ast.
“This city is very big.”

این اتاق خیلی گرم است.
in otāq kheyli garm ast.
“This room is very warm.”

Describing Cities and Countries

When you talk about cities and countries, you usually mention size, beauty, age, and sometimes location or climate. For now, keep your sentences simple.

Examples:

ایران کشور زیبایی است.
Irān keshvar-e zibāyi ast.
“Iran is a beautiful country.”

شیراز شهر تاریخی است.
Shirāz shahr-e tārikhi ast.
“Shiraz is a historical city.”

مشهد شهر مذهبی است.
Mashhad shahr-e mazhabi ast.
“Mashhad is a religious city.”

تهران خیلی شلوغ است.
Tehrān kheyli sholugh ast.
“Tehran is very crowded.”

You can also describe where something is, but details of prepositions belong to another chapter. At this level, you will often use simple forms like “in” and “near”:

خانه‌ی ما در شهر است.
khāne-ye mā dar shahr ast.
“Our house is in the city.”

روستای ما نزدیک کوه است.
rustā-ye mā nazdik-e kuh ast.
“Our village is near the mountain.”

Describing Rooms and Houses

Inside a house, you can describe each room with size, light, and feeling. Simple adjectives are enough at this level.

For example:

این اتاق بزرگ و روشن است.
in otāq bozorg o roshan ast.
“This room is big and bright.”

آشپزخانه‌ی او کوچک است.
āshpazkhāne-ye u kutāh ast.
“His / her kitchen is small.”

اتاق من تمیز است.
otāq-e man tamiz ast.
“My room is clean.”

این خانه قدیمی ولی قشنگ است.
in khāne qadimi vali qashang ast.
“This house is old but pretty.”

The structure “adjective + ولی + adjective” gives a contrast, like “old but pretty,” “small but comfortable.”

You often use the word راحت “rāhat” for “comfortable”:

این صندلی راحت است.
in sandali rāhat ast.
“This chair is comfortable.”

این خانه راحت است.
in khāne rāhat ast.
“This house is comfortable.”

Putting It Together: Short Descriptions

You can now create short descriptions that combine several pieces of information. You already know “to be,” pronouns, and basic sentences, so here you mainly need vocabulary and the idea of chaining adjectives.

Look at this simple description of a person:

او یک مرد ایرانی، قدبلند و آرام است.
u yek mard-e Irāni, qad-boland va ārām ast.
“He is an Iranian man, tall and calm.”

And this description of a place:

اصفهان شهر زیبایی است، خیلی تاریخی و تمیز است.
Esfahān shahr-e zibāyi ast, kheyli tārikhi va tamiz ast.
“Isfahan is a beautiful city, it is very historical and clean.”

You can also describe your own room or city using the same patterns:

من در یک شهر کوچک و آرام زندگی می‌کنم.
man dar yek shahr-e kutāh va ārām zendegi mikonam.
“I live in a small and quiet city.”

اتاق من کوچک ولی روشن و تمیز است.
otāq-e man kutāh vali roshan va tamiz ast.
“My room is small but bright and clean.”

Practice by choosing someone you know and a place you know, then make three or four simple Persian sentences about each, using “is,” “has,” and two or three adjectives.

Vocabulary Table