How to Compliment Looks in English | British vs. American Attractive Phrases Explained!

515,548 views ・ 2019-05-11

Learn English with Papa Teach Me


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