Colors in French
Questions This Article Answers
What are the colors in French?
How do you say color in French?
How do you say my favorite color is in French?
What are the agreement rules for colors in French?
Basic Colors in French
Let's take a look at the main color adjectives in French.
The Main Color Adjectives in French
| French | English |
|---|---|
| blanc | white |
| bleu | blue |
| gris | gray |
| jaune | yellow |
| marron | brown |
| noir | black |
| orange | orange |
| rose | pink |
| rouge | red |
| vert | green |
| violet | purple |
Just like in English, you can describe a color's shade in French. Here are a couple of handy adjectives you can use to talk about different shades of colors in French!
How to Describe Colors in French
One-Word Color Adjectives in French
When colors like bleu, rouge, violet, etc. are used as (one-word) adjectives, they agree with the noun they describe in gender and in number.
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Invariable Color Adjectives in French
When the name of a color comes from the thing that is known for this color (e.g., orange gets its name from the fruit, and the color salmon gets its name from the fish), the adjective almost never changes in French. It stays in the masculine singular form, even if the noun it describes is feminine and/or plural.
Let's take a look at some of these invariable color adjectives in French!
A Few Color Adjectives That Are Invariable in French
The color rose (pink) is an exception to the rule above. Even though it is named after a flower, it agrees in gender and in number with the noun it modifies.
There are five other exceptions like rose: écarlate(scarlet), fauve(tan), incarnat(crimson), mauve(mauve), and pourpre(crimson). These color adjectives get their names from things, but they agree in gender and in number with the noun they modify.
Two-Word Color Adjectives
When a color adjective is made up of two words in French, neither of the two words agrees in gender or number with the noun they describe. Both words are used in the masculine singular form, even if the noun that they describe is not masculine singular. Usually, one of the two words is a basic color term (e.g., jaune, vert, blanc) and the other one specifies the type or shade of color.
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Two Colors with Et (And)
The sentences below are almost identical in French. The only difference is that the color adjectives noir and blanc do not agree with the noun in the first sentence, but they do in the second sentence! Both spellings are correct, but be careful; these two sentences mean different things! You'll really need to pay attention here. When you see that the color adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun they modify, they're describing two (or more!) differently colored items. When the color adjectives do not agree in number and gender with the noun they modify, you can be confident that they're describing the color of one item, or group of identical items.
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- The first sentence describes sweaters that are both black and white. Maybe they are cute French-style striped sweaters!
- The second sentence describes sweaters that are either black or white, but not both!
Colors Used as Nouns
When colors are used as nouns in French, they're always masculine.
How to Use Colors as Nouns in French
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le blanc | white |
| le bleu | blue |
| le gris | gray |
| le jaune | yellow |
| le marron | brown |
| le noir | black |
| le orange | orange |
| le rose | pink |
| le rouge | red |
| le vert | green |
| le violet | purple |
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Now that you know how to talk about your favorite color in French, dive deeper into the world of French adjectives with these articles!
