Pets in English: types of pets, their appearance, personality, sounds, and movements

How to talk about yourself, your family or daily habits is one of the first things you learn in English. But what about our pets? How can we describe their appearance, personality, and behaviour, as well as the movements and sounds that our four-legged friends make? In this article, we are going to explore some words from different topics that can help us talk about pets in English.

Contents

1. Types of animals in English
2. Popular pets in English
3. Talking about pets in English
     3.1. Appearance
     3.2. Personality traits
     3.3. Sounds
     3.4. Movements
     3.5. Human actions
     3.6. Objects
4. Animal idioms in English
5. FAQ

Types of animals in English

There are several words you can use to talk about animals in English:

An animal is the most general name for all living beings that can move, eat and respond to the surrounding world using their senses. This category includes all animals, both wild and domestic:

• a cat;
• a horse;
• a panda etc.

A pet is an animal that people keep at their homes as a companion rather than as a source of food or as a working animal. Some of the most popular pets are:

• a cat;
• a dog;
• a hamster;
• a parrot;
• a tortoise.

A wild animal is an animal that lives in its natural environment without human intervention. Some of the common wild animals are:

• a deer;
• a fox;
• a lion;
• a tiger;
• a wolf.

A domestic animal is an animal that has been domesticated by people in order to live and reproduce in captivity, for food, clothing or other items, or to perform certain tasks. Some of domestic animals are:

• a cow;
• a goat;
• a hen;
• a pig;
• a sheep.

An exotic animal is a species that is not common for a person’s area and usually comes from other countries. Both wild and domestic animals can be exotic, e.g.:

• a falcon;
• an iguana;
• a lizard;
• a monkey;
• a raccoon.

A stray is normally a pet animal that has lost its home or is homeless. Such animals live in the street and are mostly represented by the following two species:

• a cat;
• a dog.

Popular pets in English

Let’s start with the names of the most popular pets in English:

If you want to say what kind of pet you have in English, you can use one of the following phrases:

Talking about pets in English

Now that we know the names of different types of pets in English, let’s see how we can describe their appearance and personality. In addition to that, we are going to learn different verbs that can help us describe what animals usually do and what we can do with them.

Appearance

First of all, let’s learn the body parts of pets in English:

Here are also some adjectives that can be used to describe appearance:

To make a sentence, use the verbs “to be”, “have” or “have got” in the correct form:

• My cat is very fluffy.
• My hamsters are so tiny.
• My dog has a shiny coat.
• My cat has large round eyes.
• My rabbit has got such soft fur.
• My rats have got long sharp claws.

For more practice in describing appearance, take the mini-course “How to talk about pets in English”, which contains basic vocabulary for describing your pet.

Personality traits

All living beings are different and have unique personality traits. Here is a list of adjectives that will help you describe your pet’s personality in English:

You can use the verb “to be” in the correct form to create a sentence:

• My rabbit is very timid.
• Our parrot is so smart.
• The chinchillas are so affectionate.
• The mice are very noisy.
• My dog is the most loyal animal in the world.

Sounds

The language of animals also deserves special attention as each language describes the “words” animals say in a different way. Here are some of the sounds used in English:

Let’s make up a few sentences with these words:

• My cat purrs when she is happy.
• My cockatoo can’t speak.
• Our dog barks when he is afraid.

Movements

What does your pet do every day? Choose from the list of activities below:

To talk about your pet in English, choose the right tense according to the situation:

✓ Present Simple — for daily routine and habits:

• My guinea pig sleeps 6 hours a day.
• My dog wags his tail when he meets me in the evening.
• Our parrot always begs for treats.

✓ Present Continuous — for actions happening at the moment of speaking:

• My cat is running like crazy now.
• Our puppy is chewing everything in the house these days!
• Look! The guinea pigs are yawning.

✓ Past Simple — for actions in the past:

• My rat bit me yesterday.
• My cat rubbed against my legs when I came home after the trip.
• Our iguana climbed the couch last weekend.

Human actions

What about your interaction with animals? Check out the list of the verbs that can describe your relationships:

Here are some examples:

• I bathe my cat every month.
• She trains her parrot every day.
• He is petting the dog now.
• I walk my dog three times a day.
• I took my rat to the vet last month.

Objects

When you decide to get a pet, you need to think of a lot of things: food, a place to sleep, a toilet, and leisure activities. Here are the things you can buy for your pet in English:

Animal idioms in English

Knowing animals can make your speech more expressive thanks to idioms — set phrases that often have a figurative meaning. There are some popular idioms together with their meaning in the table below:

To remember animal idioms better and make your speech more vivid, take the short course “English idioms about Animals with Cap the Cat”, which teaches 15 idioms in a witty and interesting format.

FAQ

1. What’s the difference between “pet” and “animal”?

The English word “animal” can be used to describe any type of animal: domestic (a lamb), wild (a bear), or pet (a cat).
The word “pet” refers to those animals that people keep in their homes for pleasure, rather than for food, clothing, things or work (e.g. a hamster, a parrot, a dog).

2. What are the most popular pets in English?

According to various surveys, the most popular pets are “a dog” and “a cat”. They are followed by:

• a fish;
• a hamster;
• a rabbit;
• a guinea pig;
• a chinchilla;
• a mouse;
• a parrot;
• a turtle.

3. How to memorize vocabulary about pets in English?

To memorize the vocabulary easier and faster, try these tips:

• Create your own sentences with new words: about your pet, your friends’ pets or even a pet you dream of having in the future.
• Write a short story about your pet in English. Talk about its appearance, personality traits, habits and how you spend time together.
• Create a social media account for your pet in English. Post photos and videos, make captions and leave comments in English.