Improve your Vocabulary: Adjectives & idioms for how people look

Do you want to sound natural in English when talking about how people look? In this practical speaking and vocabulary lesson, I’ll teach you some common idiomatic sentences and adjectives used to discuss appearance. Learn the difference between looking chic, smart, dapper, sharp, and elegant. Tell someone that he looks like he just got hit by a truck! All this and more is covered in the video. Once you’ve mastered this vocabulary, you’ll be able to have some fun talking about your friends’ appearances, and you’ll gain speaking confidence by being familiar with these intermediate-level English words and sentences. Take the quiz for this lesson at: https://www.engvid.com/improve-your-v...

TRANSCRIPT

I look like hell? You should see yourself. You have one eye. Steve. Okay, you go get dressed and I'll see you in a bit. Okay? Steve.

Hey, you're looking good, though. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on commenting on people's appearance. So, in this video, I'm going to give you some expressions, most of which are idiomatic, and some adjectives that you can use to make positive and negative comments about people's appearance.

Now, before we start, I want to say: For the negative expressions, the negative adjectives - use these with, you know, some discretion. Usually you only want to use these with people you know very well or if you want to joke around with your friends. So, you don't want to tell someone at work that they look like hell, if you don't know them very well. But if it's your best friend and you just want to joke with them a little bit, it's applicable then. Okay?

All right, so let's begin with some positive expressions. So, you could say all of these things that are positive, and you start them with saying: "You look like..." You could say: "You look like a million bucks", like, just money. You look like money; like a million dollars. So, "bucks" just means "dollars". So, if someone looks very fancy or just great, you can say: "You look like a million bucks." Same with... This is self-explanatory: "You look like a movie star." Okay? So: "Yeah, you look like Russell Crowe or Keanu Reeves", if you think, you know, those guys are attractive and stuff.

"You look like a supermodel." So, this is probably, you know, much more common if you're talking to a girl; a female. Please don't say this to strangers, guys. Be... Just be smart about it. Okay? All right. And final one, you could use this for men, but usually this is for girls as well: "You look like you just walked off the runway" or "you stepped off the runway". So, "the runway" is in fashion shows. It's literally the path that the models walk. So, let me walk like a model for you. Yeah. So, I look like I just walked off the runway. So, I look like a fashion model, basically. Okay? So, if your friend comes to work and they're wearing, like, a really nice dress or their hair is really cool, you're like: "Wow. You look like a supermodel" or "You look like you just walked off the runway." All right.

Now some negative expressions. So, again, please use these expressions with people you know well if you want to joke with them, or maybe someone says: "Tell me honestly: How do I look?" Okay? You can say: "You look like a mess." Okay? So, you can say "a mess", like you're not tidy, not clean, your hair is everywhere. "You look like a total disaster", you can also say. So: "You look like hell." Not like heaven, but like hell. Okay? So, Steve thinks I look like hell today, but come on, Steve. Nah, there's no way. Sharp. I'm sharp today.

Next: "You look like a bum." I had to do that in the Rocky voice a little bit. So, if you look like a bum, you look like... It's not very polite. You mean that the person looks like someone who is homeless, someone who lives on the street, and maybe someone who hasn't taken a shower in a long time. Okay? And: "You look like a walking disaster", like a walking disaster. Okay? You can also say: "a mess" or: "a total disaster", "a walking disaster".

And these two are really cool. I love this one; I use it with Steve all the time because he looks like hell: "You look like you just rolled out of bed." Okay? So, you look like you just woke up, and you got out of bed, and you're still in your pajamas, you haven't washed your face, your eyes are baggy, and your hair is everywhere. And: "Whoa, you look like you just rolled out of bed. Can you just go to the bathroom and clean yourself up, please? For all of us."

And next: "You look like you got hit by a truck." So, imagine getting hit by a truck - your body probably doesn't look very clean or attractive if you get hit by a truck, so you can see the imagery here. Okay? So, again, just imagine: Hair everywhere, clothes everywhere, not clean, not sharp, but very, very messy and sloppy as well. Okay, so we have some positive expressions, some negative expressions. […]