Virtuous English AcademyPersonality & Character — A2 English Vocabulary
This A2 vocabulary list gathers 30 elementary English words about personality & character — describing what people are really like. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using personality & character words in English
Personality adjectives look like the easiest list on the page and hide two traps that persist well into B1. The first is fun against funny, which describe entirely different qualities and are swapped constantly. The second is the difference between he is rude and he is being rude — English uses the continuous with these adjectives to mark behaviour that is temporary, and it is a genuinely useful thing to be able to say. Prepositions are the third issue, and each adjective owns its own.
What to watch out for
Funny makes you laugh; fun is enjoyable
He is funny means he makes people laugh. He is fun means he is enjoyable to be with. And a funny film is a comedy, while a fun evening was simply a good one. There is a further trap: funny also means strange, as in a funny smell or I feel a bit funny, so context does the work of separating the two meanings.
Is is permanent; is being is today only
He is rude describes his character in general. He is being rude says he is behaving that way at this moment, and it implies it is out of character. This works with most personality adjectives — You are being very quiet today, She is being kind about it — and it is one of the few genuinely useful things the present continuous does beyond describing actions in progress.
Each adjective takes its own preposition
People are kind to, polite to and rude to others — the preposition is to for how you treat somebody. But it is generous with money and time, and honest about a situation. British English prefers clever where Americans say smart; note that smart in British English still often means well dressed, so a smart jacket is a compliment about the clothing.
Words learners mix up
Three tables: four adjectives whose value in English is not the value your language gives them, the endings that build character adjectives out of ordinary words, and the three abstract nouns that describe a person from three different angles.
Four words that are not as positive — or as negative — as they look
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| cheeky | Slightly rude in an amusing, charming way. British English uses it fondly, especially about children. | That was a cheeky answer. |
| strict | Insisting that rules are followed. Firm rather than unkind, and often said with approval of a teacher. | Our maths teacher was very strict. |
| curious | Wanting to know things — a compliment in English. It can also mean strange, but only about things, never about people. | She is a curious child who asks about everything. |
| ambitious | Wanting to succeed. In English this is positive and belongs on a job application. | He is ambitious and works very hard. |
Cheeky is the hardest of these to translate and the most British: a cheeky grin, a cheeky request, even a cheeky pint meaning a drink you should not really be having. It is never a serious criticism. Strict goes wrong in the other direction — a strict parent is not a cruel one, and reaching for the harsher word changes the whole description.
The endings that build these words
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| careful | The -ful ending means full of something. It always ends in one l, however many the root had. | Be careful with that glass. |
| careless | The -less ending means without it, so these two are exact opposites built from one root. | It was a careless mistake. |
| talkative | The -ive and -ative endings turn a verb into a description of a tendency. | He is friendly and very talkative. |
| reliable | The -able ending means it can be done to you: somebody you are able to rely on. | She is completely reliable. |
The -ful and -less pair is the most useful thing on this page, because it works across dozens of words at once: helpful and helpless, useful and useless, hopeful and hopeless. It does not work everywhere, though — friendless means having no friends rather than being unfriendly — so meet each pair before you use it.
Three nouns, three angles on a person
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| personality | What somebody is like in general, the whole set of qualities. Countable: two very different personalities. | She has a lovely personality. |
| behaviour | What somebody actually does. Uncountable, and British spelling keeps the u. | His behaviour at school has improved. |
| attitude | How somebody thinks and feels about something, shown in the way they act. Takes to or towards. | I like her attitude to work. |
| mature | Behaving sensibly, in a way that suits being older. Also the adjective for cheese and wine. | He is very mature for fifteen. |
These three describe a person from the inside out: personality is what they are, behaviour is what they do, and attitude is what they think about one particular thing. Note that attitude alone has picked up a negative sense in informal English — he has got attitude means he is difficult — and that behaviour is uncountable, so his behaviours belongs to psychology papers and not to conversation.
Collocations that sound natural
Describing somebody means dropping the adjective into a frame rather than using it alone, and these six turn up in the first conversation you ever have about a person.
kind
That is very kind of youa kind wordkind to animalsIt was kind of her to help
The frame it is kind of you to is the standard British thank-you for a favour, and the of is fixed — never from you.
honest
To be honest…an honest answerbe honest with yourselfbrutally honest
To be honest at the start of a sentence softens a mild disagreement rather than promising the truth. The h is silent, which is why the article is an: an honest man.
brave
a brave decisionBe brave!brave enough to askput on a brave face
A brave decision is sometimes said ironically in British English, meaning a risky one. Put on a brave face means hiding that you are upset.
serious
a serious persontake it seriouslyAre you serious?seriously ill
The adjective describes a person or a situation, while the adverb seriously intensifies something bad: seriously ill, seriously damaged. Are you serious? expresses disbelief.
quiet
a quiet personBe quiet!keep quiet about ita quiet word
Do not let the spelling drift into quite, which is an unrelated word. A quiet word means a short private conversation, usually about a problem.
generous
very generousa generous offergenerous with her timegenerous portions
It covers far more than money — you can be generous with time, with praise or with space. In a restaurant, generous portions is a compliment about the size of the plate.
Where each word belongs
Six adjectives with a warning attached: two are much stronger in English than they look, one carries four unrelated meanings, and one belongs to writing far more than to speech.
- rudeStronger than it looksCalling somebody rude in Britain is a real accusation rather than a mild observation, and the gentler options are impolite, a bit sharp or not very friendly. There is a second sense too, meaning indecent: a rude joke.
- cruelVery strongDeliberately causing pain, and far heavier than unkind, which is what most situations actually need. It is rarely used about somebody you know personally. The noun is cruelty and the adverb cruelly keeps both ls.
- gentleNot the same as <em>kind</em>Soft in touch, voice or manner: a gentle voice, be gentle with the cat. It says nothing about generosity, which is kind. It is also unrelated in meaning to its lookalikes in French and Spanish, which point towards nice instead.
- fairFour meaningsTreating everybody equally — the sense that belongs here — but also light in colour (fair hair), a funfair, and settled weather. The very common fair enough means I accept that and is one of the most useful phrases in British conversation.
- wiseWritten · usually about ageHaving judgement built up over years, which is why it suits older people and decisions rather than classmates. A wise decision is common; he is wise about somebody your own age is not. The everyday word for quick thinking is clever.
- hardworkingOne word · on applicationsWritten as one word in British English, occasionally hyphenated. It is the standard positive term in a reference or on a CV, alongside reliable and motivated. Its opposite lazy is blunt, which is why a school report says could work harder instead.
Sentences to try
Four frames using the traps above. Describe people you know, and try the is being form on somebody having an unusual day.
- My neighbour is very kind to everybody.
- He is funny, and going out with him is always fun.
- She is usually quiet, but she is being quite serious today.
- He is hardworking and extremely honest.
Questions about personality & character vocabulary
What is the difference between fun and funny?
Funny means it makes you laugh: a funny joke, a funny film. Fun means it is enjoyable: a fun party, Skiing is fun. So describing a person as funny says they are a comedian, while fun says they are good company. Be aware that funny has a second meaning of strange or slightly wrong — This milk tastes funny — so tone and context matter. Fun is mainly a noun that also works as an adjective in modern usage.
Can I say "he is being rude"?
Yes, and it says something the simple form cannot. He is rude describes his permanent character. He is being rude describes how he is behaving right now and suggests it is unusual for him. English allows this with adjectives that describe behaviour you can choose — kind, polite, rude, quiet, serious, selfish, generous. It does not work with adjectives you cannot control, so He is being tall or She is being clever in the intelligence sense are not possible.
Is it "kind to" or "kind with"?
Kind to. Adjectives about how you treat other people take to: kind to animals, polite to customers, rude to the waiter, friendly to newcomers. A different group takes with, and those are usually about what you share or how you handle something: generous with her time, patient with children, careful with money. A third group takes about: honest about his mistake, serious about the plan. These are fixed, so learn each adjective together with its preposition.