Người này cao, người kia thấp — Describing people

What you will learn

This lesson teaches simple ways to describe people. It also reinforces a major Vietnamese pattern you have already seen: an adjective can describe a person directly, without adding là.

1. Người này..., người kia...

• Người này cao. — This person is tall.
• Người kia thấp. — That person is short.
• Anh ấy cao. — He/that anh is tall.
• Chị ấy thấp hơn. — She/that chị is shorter.

2. No là before ordinary adjectives

Say Anh ấy cao, Chị ấy trẻ, Ông ấy khỏe. Do not normally say Anh ấy là cao. Là is useful for identity/classification, but ordinary adjective descriptions usually do not need it.

3. Physical description

• cao — tall
• thấp — short/low
• trẻ — young
• lớn tuổi — older, often more neutral than directly calling someone già
• khỏe — healthy/strong

Some appearance words can be socially sensitive. A word being grammatically correct does not mean it is polite to say directly to someone.

4. Simple personality descriptions

• vui tính — cheerful/easygoing
• ít nói — quiet/not very talkative
• thân thiện — friendly
• hiền — gentle/mild; exact nuance depends on person and context

5. Degree words make descriptions more natural

• rất cao — very tall
• hơi thấp — a little short
• khá trẻ — fairly young
• vui tính lắm — very cheerful

6. A first comparison with hơn

• Anh Nam cao hơn anh Minh. — Nam is taller than Minh.
• Chị Lan lớn tuổi hơn chị Hoa. — Lan is older than Hoa.

Hơn marks comparison in this simple pattern. A fuller comparison lesson comes later.

7. A short conversation

Mai: Anh nào là anh trai em?

Lan: Anh cao đứng bên trái.

Mai: Anh mặc áo trắng à?

Lan: Đúng rồi. Anh ấy tên Hùng.

Mai: Anh ấy trông vui tính nhỉ.

Lan: Ừ, anh ấy vui tính lắm.

8. Description can identify someone

Vietnamese can identify people with descriptions such as chị mặc áo xanh or người đứng bên kia. Later lessons will develop these patterns more fully.

9. Be careful with direct comments about appearance

Comments on height, weight, age or appearance may occur openly among relatives or familiar people, but this varies by generation, relationship and individual preference. “People sometimes say this” never means “it is always polite to say this”.

10. Useful vocabulary

• cao — tall/high
• thấp — short/low
• trẻ — young
• lớn tuổi — older
• khỏe — healthy/strong
• vui tính — cheerful
• ít nói — quiet
• thân thiện — friendly
• hơn — more/than in comparison

11. Common beginner mistakes

• Adding là before every adjective.
• Treating every descriptive word as socially neutral.
• Assuming one English adjective always has exactly one Vietnamese equivalent.

Try it

1. Describe one person as tall and another as short.
2. Say someone is very friendly.
3. Compare two people using hơn.
4. Explain why Anh ấy cao does not need là.

Quick recap

Vietnamese adjectives can directly describe people. Degree words add nuance, and hơn gives you a first simple comparison.