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Colors in French

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Let's take a look at the most important word in this post:

La couleur, which means "color"

In its plural form, la couleur would transform into les couleurs.

Colors in French

Before we get started, recall that nouns in French come in masculine and feminine forms. Colors are no exception—take a look at the list below:

    Colors in French

    • Green → Vert (m.), Verte (f.)
    • Blue → Bleu (m.), Bleue (f.)
    • Violet → Violet (m.), Violette (f.)
    • Black → Noir (m.), Noire (f.)
    • Gray → Gris (m.), Grise (f.)
    • White → Blanc (m.), Blanche (f.)
    • Red → Rouge (m.f.)
    • Orange → Orange (m.f.)
    • Yellow → Jaune (m.f.)
    • Purple → Pourpre (m.f.)
    • Pink → Rose (m.f.)
    • Brown → Marron (m.f.)

    In the above list,

    • (m.) refers to the masculine form of the color
    • (f.) refers to the feminine form of the color
    • (m.f.) means that the word for the color works for both masculine and feminine contexts

    Describing an Object and its Color

    In French, to describe an object together with its color, there are 2 things you need to remember:

    1. Say the object first, then the color.
    2. Keep everything in the same gender.

    Here are some examples:

    • A green book → Le livre vert
    • A black car → La voiture noire
    • An orange door → La porte orange
    • A red table → La table rouge

    Note again how everything agrees in gender. For instance, 'a black car' in French is: la voiture (f.) + noire (f.)

    Describing Objects and Colors (in Plural Forms)

    How about objects in plural?

    Same deal, and in most cases, all you need to do is add an 's' to the end of the color.

    But for orange and marron, they're the exceptions. Both of these colors remain the same for all of its singular, plural, masculin, and feminin forms. No need to add an 's' to gris (m.) either.

    • Green → Verts (m.), Vertes (f.)
    • Blue → Bleus (m.), Bleues (f.)
    • Violet → Violets (m.), Violettes (f.)
    • Black → Noirs (m.), Noires (f.)
    • Gray → Gris (m.), Grises (f.)
    • White → Blancs (m.), Blanches (f.)
    • Red → Rouges (m.f.)
    • Orange → Orange (m.f.)
    • Yellow → Jaunes (m.f.)
    • Purple → Pourpres (m.f.)
    • Pink → Roses (m.f.)
    • Brown → Marron (m.f.)

      To describe plural objects with their colors:

      1. Say the object in plural first, then the color (in plural).
      2. Keep everything in the same gender.

      Let's reuse the previous examples, but with the objects in plural forms:

      • Green books → Les livres verts
      • Black cars → Les voitures noires
      • Orange doors → Les portes orange
      • Red tables → Les tables rouges

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