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HI, I'm Michael.

Welcome to Oxford Online English.

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English.

Describing a picture is useful in many English exams; you need to describe a picture in English

for exams like FCE, TOEIC or PTE.

It's also a good way to practise your general English skills.

Take an interesting picture, and try to describe it in English.

You can practise your speaking and learn some new English vocabulary!

In this lesson, you can learn how to describe a picture in English in clear, detailed language.

We'll show you how to build an answer step-by-step.

What's the best way to start your description?

Start with a summary, giving a general description of what's in the picture and what you can

see.

It's useful to imagine that the person you're talking to can't see the picture.

Think: what does the other person need to know?

What do you need to say so that other people can understand what's in the picture?

Let's do an example.

You want to summarize what you see in one or two simple sentences.

How could you do that?

You could say:

There are several small boats next to a beach. Es gibt mehrere kleine Boote neben einem Strand.

Or, The picture shows a beach, with many small

boats in the water nearby. Boote im Wasser in der Nähe.

Simple summaries like this make it easy to understand the general contents of the picture.

Let's do one more: What could you say here?

Here are some possible answers:

There are three people cooking in a kitchen.

Or, The picture shows three young friends cooking

together.

Okay, now it's your turn.

Here's another picture: You need to make a summary of what you see.

You can use these phrases:

There is… or, There are…

The picture shows…

Pause the video, and make one or two sentences.

You can write down your answers if you want.

Okay, after your summary, you can start giving more detail about what you see in the picture.

To start giving detail, you can talk about where things are in the picture.

Here's some useful language to help you do this:

Let's do an example.

You could say:

On the left, there's a girl with dark, curly hair.

She's holding half a cauliflower.

In the middle, there's a man who's chopping vegetables. In der Mitte steht ein Mann, der Gemüse schneidet.

At the bottom, we can see a counter with many different vegetables on it. Unten sehen wir eine Theke mit vielen verschiedenen Gemüsesorten darauf.

When talking about photos, you might also need the phrases: Wenn Sie über Fotos sprechen, benötigen Sie möglicherweise auch die Ausdrücke:

In the background…

In the foreground…

For example: In the foreground, there's a sandy beach

with three metal anchors on it.

In the middle, there are several small boats, which are close to the beach.

In the background, we can see the blue sea stretching to the horizon. Im Hintergrund sehen wir das blaue Meer, das sich bis zum Horizont erstreckt.

Let's put all of this language together in another example:

Think first: what could you say about this picture?

Okay, let's look at what you could say:

On the left, there's a cat sitting on a table.

On the right, there's a man standing, though we can't see his face. Rechts steht ein Mann, obwohl wir sein Gesicht nicht sehen können.

In the background, we can see blue sky and snowy mountains.

Now it's your turn!

Here's a picture:

Pause the video, and make at least three sentences. Halten Sie das Video an und bilden Sie mindestens drei Sätze.

Use the useful language you saw in this section.

Again, you can write your sentences down if you want to!

Okay?

What's next?

Now, the person you're talking to should have a good general idea about what's in

the picture you're describing, and where things are. das Bild, das Sie beschreiben, und wo die Dinge sind.

Next, you should start describing your picture in more detail. Als nächstes sollten Sie beginnen, Ihr Bild detaillierter zu beschreiben.

Let's look at a picture you've seen before: When adding detail, don't try to describe Schauen wir uns ein Bild an, das Sie schon einmal gesehen haben: Wenn Sie Details hinzufügen, versuchen Sie nicht zu beschreiben

everything in the picture. alles auf dem bild.

It's not necessary or useful.

You should add details to the most important parts of the picture. Sie sollten Details zu den wichtigsten Teilen des Bildes hinzufügen.

So, for this picture, what do you think the most important parts are? Also, was sind Ihrer Meinung nach die wichtigsten Teile für dieses Bild?

Probably, the person who took this photo took it because of the people. Wahrscheinlich hat die Person, die dieses Foto gemacht hat, es wegen der Menschen gemacht.

So, you should focus your description on the two people. Daher sollten Sie Ihre Beschreibung auf die beiden Personen konzentrieren.

Think: what do they look like, and what are they doing? Überlegen Sie: Wie sehen sie aus und was machen sie?

You could say:

The two people both look unhappy or irritated. Die beiden Personen sehen beide unglücklich oder gereizt aus.

They're sitting at the kitchen table together, but they aren't talking to each other.

The man is staring down at the table, while the woman is stirring her tea with a spoon. Der Mann starrt auf den Tisch, während die Frau mit einem Löffel in ihrem Tee rührt.

That's just three sentences, but they add a lot of detail to your description.

Let's try one more: In this picture, what do you think you should

focus on in your description?

Fairly obviously, you should talk about the horses. Ziemlich offensichtlich sollten Sie über die Pferde sprechen.

Let's try:

The horses are running through the grass. Die Pferde laufen durch das Gras.

Two of them are black, but the one in the middle is white and grey.

They don't have saddles or anything, so they could be wild horses. Sie haben keine Sättel oder ähnliches, also könnten sie Wildpferde sein.

Again, you can see that you can do a lot with just a few sentences.

Alright, now it's your turn!

Let's take a picture you've already seen: Pause the video and make at least three sentences

to describe the picture in detail.

Try to include as much information as you can.

How was that? Wie war das?

If you want more practice, you can do the same exercise with other pictures from this

lesson, or you could use your own pictures!

At this point, you've described the picture in detail.

So, what else can you do? Also, was kannst du sonst noch tun?

Speculating… Spekulieren…

What does that mean?

Speculating means talking about possibilities.

For example, look at this picture: Think about some questions:

Why are the umbrellas there? Warum sind die Regenschirme da?

Who put them there?

By trying to answer questions like this, you are speculating; you're talking about possibilities

and giving your opinion about the picture.

Speculating can help you to make a longer, more detailed answer when talking about a

picture.

Let's do an example:

I suppose it might be some kind of art project.

Maybe one person put an umbrella up there as a joke, and then other people started doing Vielleicht hat eine Person aus Spaß einen Regenschirm dort aufgehängt, und dann haben andere Leute damit angefangen

it, too. es auch.

Let's look at one more picture: Schauen wir uns noch ein Bild an:

Think, if you wanted to speculate about this picture, what could you say? Denken Sie, wenn Sie über dieses Bild spekulieren wollten, was könnten Sie sagen?

Another way to think about it: what questions could you ask yourself about this picture? Eine andere Möglichkeit, darüber nachzudenken: Welche Fragen könnten Sie sich zu diesem Bild stellen?

Possible ideas are: who made the footprints, and why? Mögliche Ideen sind: Wer hat die Fußabdrücke gemacht und warum?

Where were they going? Wohin gingen sie?

Where is the person who made the footprints now? Wo ist die Person, die die Fußspuren hinterlassen hat, jetzt?

There are other possibilities, of course, so feel free to use your own ideas, too! Es gibt natürlich auch andere Möglichkeiten, also zögern Sie nicht, auch Ihre eigenen Ideen zu verwenden!

Okay, so what could you say to speculate about this picture? Okay, also was könnte man sagen, um über dieses Bild zu spekulieren?

Here are some examples:

The footprints must have been made by a climber or a mountaineer. Die Fußspuren müssen von einem Kletterer oder Bergsteiger gemacht worden sein.

The person who made the footprints might be standing on top of the mountain now. Die Person, die die Fußspuren gemacht hat, könnte jetzt auf dem Gipfel des Berges stehen.

In our examples, you've seen some useful language which you can use to speculate about In unseren Beispielen haben Sie eine nützliche Sprache gesehen, über die Sie spekulieren können

a picture.

Do you remember?

You can use language like: Sie können Sprache verwenden wie:

I suppose…

Maybe…

[It] must…

[He] might… [Er könnte…

Let's practise using these once more with another picture: Lassen Sie uns die Verwendung dieser noch einmal mit einem anderen Bild üben:

Could you make four sentences, using the useful language we just saw? Könnten Sie vier Sätze bilden, indem Sie die nützliche Sprache verwenden, die wir gerade gesehen haben?

Let's do an example together:

I suppose the guy is a climber, or he's on an adventure holiday. Ich nehme an, der Typ ist Kletterer oder im Abenteuerurlaub.

Maybe he climbed something, and now he's on the way down. Vielleicht ist er etwas hochgeklettert, und jetzt ist er auf dem Weg nach unten.

He must have a lot of experience, because his body language is quite relaxed. Er muss viel Erfahrung haben, denn seine Körpersprache ist recht entspannt.

He might be focusing on what he's doing, but he might just be enjoying the view! Er konzentriert sich vielleicht auf das, was er tut, aber er genießt vielleicht einfach nur die Aussicht!

Okay, now it's your turn.

Can you make four sentences to speculate about this picture, using the language you've

learned in this section?

Pause the video and think about your answers!

Now, you have one more thing to do. Jetzt haben Sie noch etwas zu tun.

When you speculate, you can speculate about what you can see in the picture.

However, you can—and you should—speculate about what you can't see, too.

How's this possible?

Well, think about this picture: You can think about questions like: where Nun, denken Sie an dieses Bild: Sie können über Fragen nachdenken wie: wo

and when was the picture taken? und wann wurde das bild gemacht?

Who took the picture? Wer hat das Foto gemacht?

What was the photographer doing there? Was hat der Fotograf dort gemacht?

For example:

I think this could be in the USA, or maybe Russia.

It's a good photo, so perhaps it was taken by a professional nature photographer.

You see?

Talking about what you can't see in the picture can be very useful, and can help to Über das zu sprechen, was Sie auf dem Bild nicht sehen können, kann sehr nützlich sein und helfen

add details to your answer.

Let's do one more example: What could you say about this picture?

Let's do this one together.

You could say:

This must be somewhere tropical, like the Caribbean or the Maldives. Das muss irgendwo in den Tropen sein, wie in der Karibik oder auf den Malediven.

Perhaps it was taken by a tourist who came to the beach on one of those boats. Vielleicht wurde es von einem Touristen aufgenommen, der mit einem dieser Boote an den Strand kam.

Okay, one more.

This time, you have to do it yourself!

Here's your picture: Make at least two sentences to speculate about

the context of the picture. den Kontext des Bildes.

Think about where and when it was taken, who took it, and what the photographer was doing

there.

How was that?

Hopefully you feel more confident describing pictures in English now. Hoffentlich fühlen Sie sich jetzt sicherer beim Beschreiben von Bildern auf Englisch.

Let's put everything you've learned together and practise making longer, fluent descriptions. Lassen Sie uns alles, was Sie gelernt haben, zusammenfassen und üben, längere, flüssige Beschreibungen zu erstellen.

When you describe a picture, you should:

Give a summary of what you see. Geben Sie eine Zusammenfassung dessen, was Sie sehen.

Talk about where things are in the picture. Sprechen Sie darüber, wo sich die Dinge auf dem Bild befinden.

Add details. Einzelheiten hinzufügen.

Speculate about what's in the picture.

And, Speculate about the context of the picture.

Let's make a longer answer together.

We'll start with a picture we've used already:

Here's a possible longer answer: Hier ist eine mögliche längere Antwort:

In the picture, there are two people sitting at a table, looking unhappy. Auf dem Bild sitzen zwei Menschen an einem Tisch und sehen unglücklich aus.

There's a woman on the left and a man on the right.

In the middle of the picture, we can see some things on the table, like cups of tea, biscuits,

milk and so on.

The two people look sad or irritated, and they aren't speaking to each other. Die beiden Personen sehen traurig oder irritiert aus und sprechen nicht miteinander.

They're both looking down at the table. Beide blicken auf den Tisch.

I suppose they had a fight and now they aren't talking to each other, or they might just

be bored and not have anything to talk about.

I guess it's a stock photo because otherwise, why would the photographer be in the kitchen Ich schätze, es ist ein Archivfoto, denn warum sollte der Fotograf sonst in der Küche stehen?

with them?

Do you think you could make an answer like this?

Remember, all the language you need is in this lesson. Denken Sie daran, dass die ganze Sprache, die Sie brauchen, in dieser Lektion enthalten ist.

You just need to take the things you practised in each part, and then put them together. Sie müssen nur die Dinge nehmen, die Sie in jedem Teil geübt haben, und sie dann zusammenfügen.

Let's do one more example together:

The picture shows umbrellas hanging in the air. Das Bild zeigt Regenschirme, die in der Luft hängen.

In the foreground, we can see a streetlight, and the umbrellas fill the picture from left Im Vordergrund ist eine Straßenlaterne zu sehen, von links füllen die Regenschirme das Bild

to right. nach rechts.

The umbrellas are of many different colours, mostly bright colours like pink, yellow or Die Regenschirme sind in vielen verschiedenen Farben, meist knallige Farben wie Pink, Gelb oder

green.

They're hanging from wires.

I can see at least four lines of umbrellas hanging down in this way, but there could

be even more.

Maybe this is some sort of art project. Vielleicht ist das eine Art Kunstprojekt.

It might also be a festival or tradition, that people decorate the street with colourful

umbrellas like this.

I suppose the picture was taken in a city or town, though I can't tell where exactly.

Perhaps the photographer was a tourist, and was just walking around the city when he saw

this amazing and strange scene. diese erstaunliche und seltsame Szene.

Alright, now it's your turn.

We'll give you a new picture:

Pause the video and try to make a longer answer, like we just did.

Follow the same structure. Follow the same structure.

Finished?

I don't think so!

You should practise as much as you can.

Take the other pictures from the lesson, and make longer answers about them, too.

Practise your answers several times, until you can do it fluently and comfortably.

If you want, you can leave one of your answers in the comments and we'll give you feedback

on your English.

Don't forget to check out Oxford Online English.com for more of our free English lessons.

Thanks for watching!

See you next time!