Positive and negative character traits of a person in English

If you want to succeed, you need to know how to describe yourself properly and advantageously, even when it comes to talking about your negative traits. This rule applies not only to job interviews but to all aspects of our lives: meeting new people, going on dates, negotiating prices when buying a car. It’s equally important to be able to describe yourself not just in Ukrainian but to learn all the character traits in English as well. This, at the very least, will open doors for you to seek employment in foreign companies.

How to talk about character traits in English 

To describe yourself or another person in both Ukrainian and English, we usually use two parts of speech:

• Adjectives. These are used most often because describing objects or people is the main function of an adjective. For example, the adjective "beautiful". It's also important to remember that for describing personality traits, you can use participles – words that describe a quality related to an action. For example, "shining".

• Nouns. Although the main function of nouns is to name objects, they can also be used to describe characteristics of a person or object. This often involves fixed expressions with nouns. For instance, talking about a friend who is crazy about a football team, you might say, "He is a fan of Dynamo Kyiv".

How to talk about positive character traits in English

Let's say you’re on a date and want to impress your partner with your personality traits in English. It’s worth emphasizing that you are a purposeful person, which shows you are capable of achieving goals. Also, everyone appreciates sincere partners. Your potential partner might also value your humorous side.

If it’s about long-term relationships, you can mention that you are considerate and empathetic. Additionally, being economical and liking a clean home shows that you are practical and maintain a good living environment. It’s better to set clear expectations about the relationship from the start.

Negative character traits in English that are worth remembering

Let’s stay on the date and talk about the traits of people you can’t stand and wouldn’t want to see in your partner. It’s very hard to build a relationship with cold individuals who are unconcerned about our feelings. Trusting communication is impossible if someone in the relationship is dishonest. Also, none of us want a person who is irresponsible with their promises and the relationship as a whole.

How to learn the traits of a person's character in English using the table of antonyms

Each person combines both positive and negative character traits. Therefore, when studying English, remember all the dualities, that is, the antonyms for each positive word. Our table will help with this:

A course that will help you write a complete description of a person's character in English by Booyya

In this course, we have decided to combine two separate topics – negative and positive traits that we often use to describe people. We believe it's important to always view the world with a clear and objective perspective, while noting both the strengths and weaknesses of the people around us. And of course, to realistically assess ourselves.

In our new course, you will find:

• Videos describing personality traits in English – both negative and positive. The highlight of the course is that it allows you to learn new words in context, which will help you understand their meanings more quickly and retain them better.

• Exercises to help reinforce the knowledge you’ve gained. These can (and should) be completed directly on our interactive platform, accessible on your phone or laptop.

• Flashcards with new vocabulary. These will help you quickly review and better memorize the vocabulary.

For this course, we have selected the most commonly used personality traits in English, which we frequently discuss with friends and at work. Therefore, this is an extremely practical course, and the knowledge you gain can be applied every day. And don't worry about the course being taught in English  – all tasks and instructions are adapted to an intermediate level of knowledge.