Gemini Prompting Guide: Persona, Task, Context and Format

Google's prompting guide for Gemini boils good prompts down to four ingredients: persona, task, context and format. You do not need all four every time, but prompts that include them consistently get more useful answers. This guide shows how to use each one, with examples for work, study and everyday tasks.

The four ingredients

Put together:

You are a hiring manager at a tech startup. Draft five interview questions
for a junior data analyst role that uses SQL and Looker. Return a numbered
list and note the skill each question tests.

Google found that effective prompts are often around 21 words — far longer than the 9 words people typically type. Longer is not automatically better, but a single sentence with all four ingredients beats a keyword search every time.

Write in natural language

Gemini is conversational. Write complete sentences as if you were briefing a colleague, rather than a list of keywords. Use verbs like summarize, draft, compare, plan, explain, rewrite.

Be specific and concise

• Replace "a few" with a number.
• Replace "short" with a word count.
• Replace "for my team" with who the team is and what they need.
• Avoid jargon unless you want jargon in the answer.

Iterate as a conversation

Gemini keeps the context of the chat, so refine instead of restarting:

• "Make the tone more casual."
• "Turn this into a table."
• "Add a column with estimated time for each task."
• "Now write the email to send this plan to my manager."

Use your own files and apps

When Gemini is connected to Google Workspace, you can point it at your own material — "using the notes in [@Document]" or "based on my recent emails about the Q3 launch". Grounding the prompt in your files gives more accurate, personal answers than general knowledge alone.

Example prompts by use case

Work — meeting follow-up

You are my executive assistant. Using the meeting notes below, write a
follow-up email to the attendees that lists decisions made, owners and
deadlines in a table. Keep it under 150 words. Notes: [paste]

Study — exam revision

You are a patient biology tutor. Create 10 multiple-choice questions on
cell respiration for a high-school exam. Give the correct answer and a
one-sentence explanation for each.

Marketing — campaign ideas

You are a social media strategist for a small vegan bakery. Suggest 7
Instagram post ideas for the first week of spring. For each, give a
hook, a caption under 40 words and 5 hashtags.

Everyday — trip planning

Plan a relaxed 3-day trip to Kyoto in November for two people who like
food and gardens but dislike crowds. Give a day-by-day schedule with
morning, afternoon and evening, and a rough daily budget in USD.

Coding — explain an error

You are a senior Python developer. Explain what this error means and
the two most likely causes, then show a fix. Error and code: [paste]

Common mistakes

• Keyword prompts ("marketing ideas bakery") give generic lists. Add persona and context.
• Two tasks at once ("write the plan and the email") — split them into two turns.
• No format — Gemini will choose one, and it may not be the one you need.
• Not checking facts — use the "double-check" feature or ask for sources on anything important.

Generate a Gemini-ready prompt

The Gemini Prompt Generator turns a rough idea into a prompt with persona, task, context and format already filled in, with placeholders where your own details go.