When a Man is Nervous Around a Woman (11 Surprising Signs)

To a woman, a man is complicated and confusing. No wonder they say, men are from Mars, women are from Venus. 

While a woman has no inhibitions in showing her emotions, men tend to keep it in and act cool. Even when men show emotions, it is different from how women do. To others, it may look as if men have their emotions under their control, while women have no control over them.

Though this works for men in usual situations, the tricky part comes when you make a man nervous and uncomfortable. Again, they try not to show it and act normal. While this may work for men most of the time, it becomes hard for a woman to know when a man is nervous around her. 

This article explores this facet of a man and comes up with some concrete information. Here you will find the signs to look out for when a man is nervous around a woman. 

11 signs a man is nervous around a woman

Do I make him nervous?

When you are active on the dating scene, you may want to know how to tell if a guy is nervous around you. When a guy is nervous around you, they will show their nervousness in some way or the other, even when they try hard not to show it. 

Here are a few signs a guy is nervous around you. 

1. He makes a laughing sound

As it is still early days in the relationship and you don’t know each other well enough, he grabs at every opportunity to impress you. He knows that you will feel better if he laughs at your jokes. Instead, he laughs at everything you say. This is one of the clear signs a man is nervous around a woman.

We, human beings, tend to laugh in uncomfortable situations. When we don’t want others to know that we are nervous, we try to mask our feelings with laughter. In fact, this laughter is easy to spot. This awkward laughter even has a name – nervous laughter. 

Nervous laughter tends to diffuse the tension inside and helps in making the situation better.

2. He uses flattery on you

This is another coverup strategy he uses when you make a man nervous around you. He may be crushing on you and may want to keep it a secret for the time being. He may be looking for opportunities to impress you and get on your good side. He may think that giving you lavish compliments can help him in his mission. At times, he may flatter you just to get his way.

Don’t get him wrong here. He doesn’t mean anything wrong. All he wants is for you to feel happy and comfortable around him. He wants you to know that he appreciates you. 

When a guy is showering compliments on you, it is one of the signs you make him nervous.

3. He feels spooked by silence

He finds it hard to decipher the meaning of your silence. When there is a long break in the flow of the conversation, he will be intensely uncomfortable. As he has no clue about you or your behavior, he just doesn’t know what to do when you’re silent. Is it because you’re comfortable? Or are you uncomfortable in his presence? Are you offended by anything he said or did? So many thoughts will pass through his mind in quick succession.

All those thoughts will make a man nervous and anxious. He may be a talkative guy or a silent one. But he knows that you are the chatty kind. So, when you are silent, he is worried. Then, he will do the obvious thing most clueless guys do. Try to fill up the silence with nonsense. Or ask you a lot of questions to get you talking. It’s hilarious if you understand what is happening.

4. He shuffles and wriggles a lot

This is a normal reaction when you make a man nervous. Body movements will help in bringing down stress levels. Tapping the feet, twirling the hair, drumming the fingers, or bounding the legs up and down are typical signs of the fidgeting behavior of a nervous guy. 

However, you need to remember that fidgeting is not only a sign of nervous behavior when a guy is crushing on a girl. He may get fidgety when he is afraid or even guilty. So, you can use this as a sign only after ruling out other options or in conjunction with other signs a man is nervous around a woman.

5. He is touchy feely

When a person is romantically interested in you, they will be looking at opportunities for physical touch, even if they aren’t yet ready to reveal their feelings to you. On the other hand, if there are no such feelings in their mind, they may quickly move away even if they happen to touch you by chance. 

If the guy is nervous, he may welcome physical touch more than ever. It helps him calm down. He also uses this to confirm that you welcome his presence. Physical contact among humans is the best antidote to stress and nervousness. This is the reason why we hug and kiss others when they are distressed. 

6. He talks a lot about himself

When a guy is nervous and clueless about what to do, he will talk more about himself. He may do this even without much encouragement from you. For one thing, he knows a lot about himself and doesn’t have to think much before talking, for sure. It’s sort of cathartic and brings down his anxiety.

There is also another reason for his focusing on himself. He is attracted to you but isn’t sure about how you feel toward him. He wants you to have a good impression of him. He knows that often people first fall in love with the personality of someone before they fall in love with the actual person. 

7. He is covered in sweat

This is a classic sign of a nervous guy. You can actually see sweat beads on his forehead. His palms are damp with sweat. When you make a man nervous, his brain recognizes it as a danger because it is incapable of differentiating between nervousness due to infatuation or endangerment. 

If becomes aware of this, he will try his best to hide the evidence. He may wipe away the sweat forming on his forehead. You may find him wiping his hands often to get rid of the dampness. However, if you are sharp enough, you can notice his discomfort.

8. He tells silly jokes

When a man is nervous around a woman, his tension level shoots up to intolerable levels. He will be desperately looking for a release and calm down. What else is better to relieve tension in the air than telling jokes? But in his nervous state, neither can he think of good jokes nor can he say them well. As a result, he comes up with bad cringeworthy jokes. 

He will make up jokes at the spur of the moment about anything or anyone around him, including you. Don’t take offense at his bad attempt at jokes because he isn’t intentionally trying to make fun of you. Poor guy! He is just a nervous wreck when you’re around.

9. He lowers his voice and talks softly

Not many know about this quirky trait in men. When a man is nervous around you, he prefers to talk in a whispering tone. You may have noticed that men talk loudly when they are confident and sure of themselves. When they do the opposite, it means something is making the man nervous.

It is as if all his confidence has drained out and he is no longer an assertive person anymore. He is shy and timid and unsure of himself. All these make him bring down his voice level and mumble or talk softly. In a different setting, you may see him in his old avatar – bold and loud. But in the presence of the girl he is crushing, he is literally tongue-tied. 

10. He avoids eye contact

Yet another classic sign of a nervous person. When a person is feeling jittery and hiding something, he may have a hard time looking you in the eye. As he is enamored with you, he will steal glances at you when you are not looking his way but the moment you turn your eyes in his direction, he looks away. It is as if he is afraid to make eye contact.

Eyes are considered the windows to the soul. You can understand a lot about what is going on in a person’s mind by looking them in the eye. He is also aware of this and wants to avoid it. He may not be ready to let you know his feelings for you. Or the fact that he is nervous around you.

11. He gives you his full attention

He is tongue-tied because he is nervous. So he is only happy to be a good listener. He will listen to all that you have to say with great patience. You need to understand the simple logic behind his strategy. By letting you talk and even actively encouraging you to talk, he can keep quiet without you noticing it. Moreover, he knows that this will make you happy. It’s a win-win situation, any way you look at it.

He isn’t particularly interested in what you are talking about. As your relationship is yet to take off, he wants to know more about you and he considers this an amazing opportunity to get information about you firsthand. He will just let you go on and on without interrupting. Whenever he gets a chance, he will ask you questions so that you will continue talking. He definitely doesn’t want to turn the spotlight on himself.