How To Describe Personality In German [41 Revealing Ways]
Our personalities make us who we are, therefore being about to describe someone’s personality in German (Persönlichkeit) is an important skill. You may want to describe your new boyfriend or girlfriend to some friends, describe yourself, pay someone a compliment or even insult someone!
Either way, learning how to describe personalities in German with give you a tonne of new adjectives to further expand your German. After reading this post you will know:
- Simple phrases you need create a sentence
- 41 adjectives used to describe personalities in German
- How describing personalities sound with example sentences
Phrases to Describe Personality in German
In order to create a sentence to describe someone’s personality, there are a few simple phrases you need to combine with the adjectives you’re about to learn:
| Ich bin… | I am… |
| Sie sind / du bist… | You are… (formal / informal) |
| Mein Freund / meine Freundin ist… | My boyfriend / girlfriend is… |
| Er / sie ist… | He / she is… |
41 Adjectives to Describe Personality in German
Let’s take a look at the adjectives that we need to describe personality in German. Below you will find 41 adjectives used for describing personality. You can simply choose your adjective and pair it with the appropriate phrase above to create the sentence.
Positive Personality Adjectives
nett | nice |
freundlich | friendly |
hilfsbereit | helpful |
sympathisch | likeable |
witzig / lustig | funny |
höflich | polite |
mutig | brave |
großzügig | generous |
geduldig | patient |
fleißig | diligent / hard working |
ruhig | calm |
selbstlos | selfless |
unabhängig | independent |
charmant | charming |
klug | clever / smart |
Negative Personality Adjectives
faul | lazy |
gemein | mean |
eifersüchtig | jealous |
unfreundlich | unfriendly |
verrückt | crazy |
geizig | stingy |
arrogant | arrogant |
aggressiv | aggressive |
anhänglich | clingy |
dumm | stupid / dumb |
ungeduldig | impatient |
unhöflich | impolite |
launisch | moody |
More Personality Adjectives
komisch | strange / funny |
abenteuerlustig | adventurous |
kreativ | creative |
selbstbewusst | confident |
schüchtern | shy |
spontan | spontaneous |
romantisch | romantic |
fürsorglich | caring |
lieb | sweet / kind |
intelligent | intelligent |
direkt | direct |
aktiv | active |
gesellig | sociable |
A Note on Adjective Endings
In German, adjectives require a certain ending if they are placed in front of a noun. If they stand on their own, they don’t take an ending. When using these adjectives to describe personality in German, they will mostly stand on their own so you don’t need to worry about adding an ending.
Let’s take a look at an example:
Meine Mutter ist sehr geduldig. | My mother is very patient. |
Meine Mutter ist eine sehr geduldige Frau. | My mother is a very patient woman. |
In the first sentence, the adjective geduldig (patient) is sitting there at the end of a sentence, on it’s own. Therefore I doesn’t take an ending.
In the second sentence the adjective is describing the mother as a patient woman. Die Frau (the woman) is a noun and geduldig (patient) is the adjective. Since this adjective appears in front of a noun it needs to take the appropriate ending, in this case -e.
Like I mentioned, you can avoid using adjective endings by describing personalities using the first sentence as an example.
Describing Personalities in German: Example Sentences
Let’s take a look at these adjectives in action with some example sentences:
Wie ist dein neuer Freund so? | What is your new boyfriend like? |
Er ist sehr großzügig und romantisch. | He is really generous and romantic. |
Meine neue Kollegin ist sehr intelligent, aber sie scheint ein bisschen verrückt zu sein. | My new colleague ist very intelligent but seems a bit mad. |
Ich würde mich selbst als abenteuerlustig beschreiben. | I would describe myself as adventurous. |
Ich bin fleißig, aber du bist faul. | I am hardworking but you are lazy. |