😊 Personality - Personalidad

Aa ⏱ ≈ 15 minutes

Beginner Spanish · Personality and character

Personality in Spanish

Personality words help you describe what someone is generally like. Learn a few useful adjectives, then combine them with ser to talk about friends, relatives, classmates, coworkers, and yourself.

Your next small win: ask what someone is like, describe a person with two or three traits, and choose the correct adjective form.

Start with useful traits

Common Personality Adjectives

Learn these as words you can immediately use after ser.

amable Friendly / kind
inteligente Intelligent
divertido / divertida Fun
tranquilo / tranquila Calm
tímido / tímida Shy
responsable Responsible
trabajador / trabajadora Hardworking
paciente Patient

Describe a friend

Your female friend is fun. Complete Mi amiga es...

More personality words
bondadoso / bondadosa Kind-hearted
callado / callada Quiet
hablador / habladora Talkative
generoso / generosa Generous
enérgico / enérgica Energetic
valiente Brave
creativo / creativa Creative
curioso / curiosa Curious
Even more traits
perezoso / perezosa Lazy
apasionado / apasionada Passionate
optimista Optimistic
serio / seria Serious
impaciente Impatient
cariñoso / cariñosa Affectionate
honesto / honesta Honest
independiente Independent

Turn vocabulary into a description

What Is Someone Like?

Use ¿Cómo es...? to ask what someone is like. Personality descriptions in this lesson commonly use ser.

¿Cómo es tu nueva amiga? What is your new friend like?
Mi amigo es muy tranquilo. My friend is very calm.
Ella es amable, creativa y muy paciente. She is kind, creative, and very patient.

Useful pattern: persona + es + adjective. You can also connect several traits with y.

Use two traits

Describe someone as friendly and patient.

Personality versus mood

A personality trait describes what someone is generally like. A mood describes how someone feels at a particular moment.

This lesson focuses on general personality and character, so its main descriptions use ser.

Make the adjective fit

Personality Adjective Agreement

Some personality adjectives change their ending depending on the person being described. Others keep the same masculine and feminine form.

Adjectives that change

divertido / divertida Fun
tranquilo / tranquila Calm
generoso / generosa Generous
creativo / creativa Creative

Adjectives that stay the same

amable Friendly / kind
inteligente Intelligent
responsable Responsible
optimista Optimistic

Describe your sister

You want to say “My sister is very creative.” Which form of creativo do you need?

See the traits in everyday situations

Personality in Context

Mi nueva compañera es muy amable. My new coworker is very friendly.
Mi abuelo es hablador y le encanta contar historias. My grandfather is talkative and loves telling stories.
Nuestra profesora es paciente incluso cuando hacemos muchas preguntas. Our teacher is patient even when we ask a lot of questions.
More descriptions
Mi hermano siempre ha sido muy creativo. My brother has always been very creative.
Mi prima era muy tímida de niña, pero ahora habla con todo el mundo. My cousin was very shy as a child, but now she talks to everyone.
Nuestro vecino es generoso y siempre ofrece ayuda cuando alguien la necesita. Our neighbor is generous and always offers help when someone needs it.
El niño es curioso y hace preguntas sobre todo lo que ve. The boy is curious and asks questions about everything he sees.

Ask and answer naturally

Everyday Conversations

Personality vocabulary becomes especially useful when someone asks what a friend, coworker, or other person is like.

Describing a new friend

A
¿Cómo es tu nueva amiga?
What is your new friend like?
B
Es un poco tímida, pero es muy amable y divertida.
She's a little shy, but she's very kind and fun.

Talking about a coworker

A
¿Qué tal es tu nuevo compañero de trabajo?
What is your new coworker like?
B
Es muy responsable y trabajador. Siempre termina todo a tiempo.
He's very responsible and hardworking. He always finishes everything on time.

Build your own description

Choose a person you know and describe them with two traits from this lesson.

Your turn · 8 quick questions

Practice: Personality

Choose the description that fits each situation. Focus on common personality traits, ser, and adjective agreement.

Audio uses your device's Spanish text-to-speech voice. Listen to each adjective or sentence, then try describing someone yourself.