STOP SAYING "Pretty" / "Handsome" / "Cute" - Improve your English Vocabulary
Today's video was made possible by Skillshare
You can learn English for free for two months by using my code in the description
or go to this time in the video and find out more about how you can learn for free
- That's it? I'm just "pretty"? - Well yes... no?
No I'm just saying I think you're pretty
- Then what should I say? - I don't know. I'm not a poet
So you like someone's face, their hair, their body, whatever
and you want to tell that person
well some of the words you're using might be wrong
they might be old-fashioned, they might be too formal
"I'm sorry my English teacher told me an old-fashioned word that people don't use anymore?
okay different words we can use
You want to say that someone is attractive, of course you can use the word "attractive", that's fine
also good-looking or nice-looking, fine
Those are the standard words to say:
Also those words are more objective
It's not necessarily your personal opinion
it could be that you're saying
"Well this is not just me! I'm sure everyone enjoys your face!
You! Good face! Congratulations on your face!"
"Dude what do you think of Megan?"
"Yeah she's attractive she's good-looking"
Although that might just be because I'm British and I don't have a heart
The next word "Cute" Hmm how to describe this word?
There are two feelings with this word. One is:
"Aww look how cute those three are!
I want to adopt this puppy, kitten, or baby... they're cute!"
and in more American English it has this feeling:
"Oh she's cute I want to date her!"
So that first feeling of "Aww"
when you see a puppy or a child
looking innocent or doing something innocently
then yes you would say that's cute
yep that's me look I even had hair I'm about three I was adorable
"Adorable" just means very very cute
and if you say this to an adult
it's like saying you're acting in an innocent childlike way or
you look innocent in a kind of childish way
so it could sound kind of creepy
if you said it, you know a certain time, or in a certain way
and that would just mean you're attractive, you're pretty
Side note: I've noticed that my Turkish students use this word wrong
For example, some of my Turkish students might say
now the idea is right but the word is wrong
"sweety" that's a noun and that's
what you'd use to call your girlfriend/boyfriend, your honey, your boo, your BAE
but sweet that's the adjective and it's very similar to cute
it just means you look or you act innocent or you do something very kind
for someone are you so sweet you bought me Donuts that's really sweet thank you
so these next few words it's more personal there's more of a feeling with
them what kind of feeling I would like to marry this person one day that kind
of thing so all of these adjectives are for both men and women first of course
pretty ah no pretty is just for women you can't
say pretty for a man wrong wrong pretty can be used to
describe a man if his face has like feminine features so not a beard but you
know like that guy who's that guy you know Timothy shallow shallow met
chalahe me channel what's that guy's name that guy that guy has a pretty face
there's no facial hair it's kind of feminine right so an appropriate
adjective you could use is he's a he's a pretty man beautiful is a more extreme
pretty again you can use it for men you can use it for women and it just means
that you think that their face their body that everything is perfect you want
to marry them and have like ten thousand of their babies next
we have handsome okay no no no that one's definitely just for men my teacher
told me that a dude I'm sorry but that's wrong again yes it's much more common to
use for men but if you use it to describe a woman usually it's for an
older woman so you're saying you look good because of your older age you look
elegant well-groomed for example Helen Mirren that's a handsome woman stunning
this one gives a big wow feeling it's definitely stronger for example wow you
look stunning similar to stunning it's much stronger
so be careful when you use it we have a word breathtaking and usually it's for
landscape nature but you can use it for a person for example if they look so
good that you're like it takes your breath away you look breathtaking it's
really formal an appropriate way to use breathtaking would be wow in your
wedding dress you look breathtaking probably just that any other situation
it might sound strange okay maybe you're not thinking about love and marriage
maybe you're thinking something more you want something sexy in your adjective
you want to say I would like to see that person naked one day that kind of thing
first gorgeous pronunciation Gor just gorgeous we also have hot sexy and a
very British word fit in British English this means you're attractive you're
really good-looking but it's more international meaning just means
athletic the opposite of unhealthy but again in British English it means
while you are fit love that one is saying you're very attractive
an expression you can use is easy on the eyes when the movie Thor came out
literally every woman said the same thing about Chris Hemsworth
here's very easy on the eyes it just means this person is attractive I enjoy
looking at them that sounds creepy but as an expression it's not creepy and you
can use it for men and women you know if you want to compliment someone's body
type and I strongly recommend that you be careful if you do let's have a look
at a few compliments you could give for a body type again be careful who you say
these to okay these adjectives are for women only for this body type we could
say curvy curvaceous or voluptuous that is quite specifically for this body type
also we call this body type an hourglass bigger
she has an hourglass figure now for men only rugged describes a guy who think of
the traditional masculine characteristics and that describes
rugged like they're comfortable outside or working with their hands but and
they're also attractive that's rugged another body type would be
this one buff hench jacked they mean that you're big and have muscles but
ripped means yes you have muscles but like zero body fat and again this is
just talking about muscles so it could be for men it could be for women and
finally these adjectives are much more formal kind of old-fashioned so you
might hear them you probably won't say them and they're not just for looks it's
more characteristics it's an impression that you have
someone's entire person endearing if you meet someone who is endearing your
reaction is like they make me want to love them you know when you meet a
friend's grandparents and they're so sweet
they're so endearing I want to love them that might be when you use that charming
okay think Tom Hiddleston saying nice polite things to you there are also
compliments and make you feel good and warm inside that would be charming
engaging this is when someone takes your attention now usually you would use this
to describe an interaction with someone for example oh I had a really engaging
conversation with this guy about poetry stronger than that would be captivating
a captivating person or event or thing gets your entire attention and doesn't
let it go that Avengers movie was captivating enchanting think witches and
wizards they put a love spell on you whoa I met
her for like five minutes I think I'm in love
she's so enchanting again those words are not very common to use because
they're quite formal kind of old-fashioned
so in everyday speech you probably won't use them if you write them on someone's
Instagram photo it would sound a bit strange unless they are dressed like
Harry Potter or Hermione then enchanting might make sense now once you're dating
that beautiful person you're going to need to show off your other talents
right well I highly recommend Michael Phillips's course on how to make coffee
like a pro over on Skillshare you know I love my coffee and this course will
teach you everything you need to make coffee better than your barista but more
importantly like other courses on Skillshare it's all in English
so as I've said before learning a new skill in English can really really help
with your listing your comprehension and your production of English so this is a
really great fun way of improving your English skills that's why I reached out
to the sponsor of today's video skill share because I really genuinely like
what they do their courses can actually help you improve your English in fun new
exciting ways but if you're not a coffee drinker there are plenty of other
courses to choose from Skillshare is an online learning community with over
25,000 classes on just about everything like lifestyle cooking languages and
design technology just just just go have a look at the course list oh and did I
mention you can get two months of free classes on Skillshare by using the link
in the description also yes like I mentioned they also do English classes
so if you want to further your English training they have plenty of classes on
that too I definitely recommend the speed-reading one if you're taking the
IELTS any time soon you need that speed reading course again again two months of
these classes are free by using that link in the description so thanks for
watching today's class if you want to see more remember to subscribe and hit