IB Spanish Ab Initio

Personal Attributes

Personal Attributes

Understanding the Concept

• Personal attributes refer to the individual characteristics, traits or qualities a person possesses.
• They play a crucial role in defining one's identity and interaction with others.

Describing Personality in Spanish

• Descriptions of personal attributes mainly revolve around adjectives.
• When describing people in Spanish, the gender and number must be taken into account as adjectives should correspond to the noun they modify.
• Some commonly used personal attributes in Spanish include: inteligente (intelligent), generoso (generous), divertido (funny), amable (kind), nervioso (nervous).

Describing Physical Appearance in Spanish

• Depicting physical attributes is also an integral part of characterization.
• Spanish vocabulary allows detailed descriptions of a person's eyes (ojos), hair (cabello), height (altura), and weight (peso).
• For example, a tall girl with blond hair and blue eyes would be described as una chica alta con cabello rubio y ojos azules.

Other Vocabulary Related to Personal Attributes

• Occupation or profession: trabajador (worker), estudiante (student), médico (doctor)
• Age and life stages: joven (young), viejo (old), niño (child), adulto (adult)
• Family and relationships: amigo (friend), familia (family), hermano (brother), madre (mother)

Sentence Construction

• Use the verb 'ser' when defining or classifying a person.
  Eg. Ella es inteligente y divertida (She is intelligent and funny).
• When using adjectives to describe someone, note the gender and number alignment. Eg. Él es un hombre trabajador (He is a hardworking man).

Practice Makes Perfect

• Regularly practice building sentences and paragraphs describing various people.
• This will help in improving fluency and confidence in using the Spanish language to define personal attributes.