The Body and Describing Appearance
Parts of the body, and the words you need to say what someone looks like — including the have / be split that trips learners up.
Body vocabulary earns its place twice over: you need it to describe people, and you need it the moment anything hurts.
The body
Head: hair, face, eye, ear, nose, mouth, tooth (teeth), neck Upper body: shoulder, arm, elbow, hand, finger, chest, back, stomach Lower body: leg, knee, foot (feet), toe
Two irregular plurals to watch: tooth → teeth, foot → feet.
Have or be?
This is the pattern that decides whether you sound natural.
have + a feature you possess:
She has long hair. · He has blue eyes. · They have a beard.
be + a quality you are:
She is tall. · He is slim. · They are in their thirties.
❌ She is long hair. → ✅ She has long hair. ❌ He has tall. → ✅ He is tall.
Height and build
tall · of medium height · short · slim · well-built · heavy
Careful with judgement: slim flatters, thin is neutral, skinny does not flatter. For weight, large is evasive and fat is blunt.
Hair
Order the words like this: length - style - colour
long straight black hair · short curly grey hair
Colours: blonde, brown, black, red, grey, white. Styles: straight, curly, wavy, bald.
Other features worth having
glasses · a beard · a moustache · freckles · a tattoo · dimples · a scar
These all take have, and glasses is always plural: She has glasses. · He has a short beard.
Three questions that are not the same
This trio confuses almost everyone, because English uses like in two of them with different meanings.
| Question | Asking about | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| What does she look like? | appearance | Tall, dark hair. |
| What is she like? | personality | Really friendly. |
| What does she like? | preferences | Cycling and old films. |
And look on its own describes a current impression, not permanent appearance: You look tired. · He looks happy today.
Note also look like + noun for resemblance: She looks like her mother.
Age
- She's in her twenties.
- He's about forty.
- a young man · a middle-aged woman · an elderly man
Elderly is the polite word; old used of a person can sound blunt.
When something hurts
The same vocabulary does its second job here, and English has three patterns:
- My + part + hurts: My back hurts. · My feet hurt.
- I've got a sore…: I've got a sore throat.
- -ache words: a headache, toothache, stomach ache, backache
I've got a headache is the everyday phrasing. I have pain in my head is understandable but sounds translated.
Describe, don't judge. English draws a sharp line between neutral description (tall, slim, in her forties) and commentary (skinny, fat, old). Sticking to the neutral column is not politeness for its own sake — it is what stops a simple description from sounding rude.
Putting it together
He's tall and well-built, with short dark hair and a beard. He's probably in his forties.
One be, one have, and the hair order. That is a complete description.
Finding someone you've never met
A: How will I know him?
B: He's quite tall, with grey hair and glasses. He'll be wearing a blue coat.
A: And what's he like?
B: Very easy-going. Don't worry — he looks friendlier than he sounds on the phone.
Be for height, have for the hair and glasses, what's he like for personality, and looks for the impression. The blue coat is clothes vocabulary — a set of its own.
Test yourself
The quiz below is mostly about have versus be.