1. Positive traits: kind & emotional

• warm / affectionate – showing love, care and friendly feelings.
  They are very affectionate and often hug their friends and family.
• sensitive – easily affected by emotions or other people’s feelings.
  He is quite sensitive and gets upset when people speak harshly.
• sensible / down-to-earth – practical and realistic; not pretending to be better than others.
  Even after she became famous, she stayed down-to-earth and friendly.
• open-minded – ready to listen to new ideas and different opinions.
  Because she is open-minded, she always considers both sides of an argument.

2. Positive traits: intelligent & motivated

• bright – intelligent and quick to understand things.
  The bright student quickly understood the grammar rules.
• talented – having a natural ability to do something well.
  She is a talented singer and can also play the piano.
• enthusiastic – showing a lot of energy, interest and excitement.
  He is very enthusiastic about learning new languages.
• self-confident – sure about your own abilities; believing in yourself.
  She used to be shy, but now she is much more self-confident.
• determined – not giving up easily; strongly wanting to achieve something.
  He is determined to pass the exam and studies every evening.
• ambitious – having big goals and wanting to be successful.
  She is very ambitious and hopes to start her own company one day.

3. Positive traits: social & honest

• extroverted – liking to be with people and enjoying social situations.
  As an extroverted person, he loves parties and meeting new people.
• sociable – friendly and enjoying spending time with others.
  Our neighbour is very sociable and often invites us for coffee.
• charming – very pleasant and attractive in a way that makes people like you.
  Her charming personality makes everyone feel relaxed around her.
• honest / sincere – telling the truth and really meaning what you say.
  His sincere apology showed that he truly felt sorry.
• innocent – simple and not knowing much about the bad side of life.
  Although he is 17, he still seems very innocent and childlike.
• thrifty / economical – careful with money and not wasting things.
  He is thrifty and always looks for special offers in the supermarket.

Thrifty / economical is generally positive; mean / tight-fisted (see below) is negative.

4. Neutral & negative traits: thinking & attitude

• naive – too ready to believe people; not noticing possible problems.
  She was naive to think the stranger would return her wallet.
• foolish – not showing good sense; unwise.
  It was foolish of him to drive in such bad weather.
• half-witted / dumb – (informal) not very intelligent or showing little common sense.
  His comments made him sound a bit half-witted.
• cunning – clever at getting what you want, often by tricking people.
  The cunning criminal found a way to escape the police.
• greedy – wanting more food, money or things than you really need.
  He is so greedy; the more money he earns, the more he wants.
• stubborn – refusing to change your opinion, even when you should.
  She can be very stubborn and never admits that she is wrong.
• narrow-minded – not accepting new ideas or different ways of thinking.
  His narrow-minded views make conversations with him difficult.

5. Negative traits: behaviour & emotions

• ill-mannered – rude and not showing good manners.
  His ill-mannered behaviour at dinner embarrassed his parents.
• arrogant – thinking you are more important or better than other people.
  She is so arrogant that she believes everyone else is below her.
• moody – changing mood quickly; sometimes happy and sometimes angry or sad.
  He is very moody, so you never know how he will react.
• bossy – always telling other people what to do.
  Their boss is really bossy and never listens to anyone.
• forgetful – often forgetting things; having a poor memory.
  He is so forgetful that he loses his keys almost every week.
• tight-fisted / mean – not wanting to spend money; stingy.
  She is very tight-fisted and never leaves a tip in restaurants.
• nosy – too interested in other people’s private lives.
  The nosy neighbour is always watching people from her window.
• insecure – not confident about yourself; feeling unsure of your abilities.
  She feels insecure about her English, even though she speaks well.
• indecisive – finding it hard to make choices or decisions.
  He is so indecisive that choosing a restaurant takes him 20 minutes.