Colors in French

This French lesson is all about colors. First of all, let's take a look at the most important word of this lesson:

La couleur, meaning 'color'

In its plural form, la couleur would be written as les couleurs. Also, remember that words in French often have both masculine and feminine forms. Colors are no exception; they have to agree in gender with the gender of the object that are being described.

Let's get familiarized with how to express colors in French. In the list below, (m.) refers to a masculine form of the word, and (f.) refers to a feminine form of the word. (m.f.) signifies that there is only one form of the word that works for both masculine and feminine nouns.

Colors in French

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

Describing Colors and Objects

When describing a color of by an object, say the object first and then followed by the color. 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

Make sure the gender of the color agrees with the gender of the noun. For example, 'a car' in French is feminine. So to say 'a black car', you would have to use a feminine form of the word 'black' in French, resulting in la voiture noire.