Colours in French: list, agreement, pronunciation and idioms

The colours in French

In the pronunciation column, (n) marks a nasal vowel, “zh” is the s in “measure”, and “uh” with rounded lips is the vowel of British “fur”, lips pushed forward. French stresses the last syllable only lightly.

Hear the feminine

For some colours, the feminine is spelt differently but sounds the same: bleu and bleue, noir and noire. For others, you can hear it, because the final consonant is silent in the masculine and pronounced in the feminine:

• vert (vair), verte (vairt)
• gris (gree), grise (greez)
• blanc (blah(n)), blanche (blah(n)sh)
• violet (vyoh-LAY), violette (vyoh-LET)

This is worth a listening drill: pupils who can hear vert and verte can tell whether the noun is masculine or feminine without seeing it.

Agreement: the rules

1. Most colours agree like any adjective. Add -e for the feminine and -s for the plural: un stylo vert, une trousse verte, des stylos verts, des trousses vertes. Rouge, jaune and rose already end in e.
2. Watch the irregular ones. blanc becomes blanche, violet becomes violette. Gris has no extra s in the masculine plural: des chats gris. Bleu takes an s, not an x: des yeux bleus.
3. Colours taken from nouns never change. orange (the fruit), marron (the chestnut), kaki, crème, turquoise, cerise, noisette, citron, olive, chocolat, bordeaux: des chaussures orange, des yeux marron, une veste kaki.
4. Six exceptions agree anyway. rose, mauve, pourpre, fauve, écarlate and incarnat come from nouns but take an s: des joues roses. For KS3, rose is the one that matters.
5. Compound colours never change. A colour followed by clair, foncé, pâle or another word stays as it is: des yeux bleu clair, une veste vert foncé, des chaussettes bleu marine. Two colours together take a hyphen: des yeux bleu-vert, une robe gris-bleu.
6. Colours as nouns are masculine. le rouge, le vert, even though la couleur is feminine: Ma couleur préférée, c’est le bleu.

In everyday writing, many French speakers write “des chaussures oranges” or “des yeux marrons”. Standard grammar keeps them invariable, and that is what dictionaries and grammars expect.

Where the colour goes

Colours always follow the noun: un pull rouge, le vin blanc, le Petit Chaperon rouge. Unlike petit or grand, they never come before it.

To ask about a colour: De quelle couleur est ta trousse ? or, more informally, Elle est de quelle couleur, ta trousse ? The answer agrees with the object: Elle est bleue.

J’ai une trousse bleue et un cahier rouge.I’ve got a blue pencil case and a red exercise book.

Le drapeau français est bleu, blanc, rouge.The French flag is blue, white and red.

Ma sœur a les yeux marron et les cheveux blonds.My sister has brown eyes and blond hair.

Je porte des baskets bleu foncé.I’m wearing dark blue trainers.

Shades and nuances

• clair (light), foncé (dark), pâle (pale), vif (bright): rouge vif
• bleu ciel (sky blue), bleu marine (navy), vert pomme (apple green), jaune moutarde (mustard yellow)
• the suffix -âtre means “-ish”, often unflattering: verdâtre, jaunâtre
• the suffix -é means “tinged with”: bleuté, rosé

Hair and eyes

Hair has its own words: blond, brun (dark brown), châtain (light or mid brown), roux (red), noir, gris, blanc. Il est roux, elle est rousse: he or she has red hair. Il est brun means he has dark hair. Eyes are bleus, verts, gris, noirs, marron or noisette (hazel), the last two invariable.

Regional words

In France, brown objects are marron. In Quebec, brun is the everyday word for brown (des souliers bruns), and mauve is often used where France says violet. Accept both from pupils who have learnt them.

Idioms with colours

• voir la vie en rose: to see life through rose-tinted glasses
• avoir une peur bleue: to be scared stiff
• rire jaune: to give a forced laugh
• être rouge comme une tomate: to be as red as a beetroot
• donner le feu vert: to give the green light
• passer une nuit blanche: to have a sleepless night
• avoir carte blanche: to have a free hand
• broyer du noir: to feel gloomy
• avoir la main verte: to have green fingers (Quebec: avoir le pouce vert)
• être dans le rouge: to be in the red

Two surprises with bleu: un bleu is a bruise, and un steak bleu is a very rare steak. Les Bleus are the French national sports teams.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Colour before the noun: “un rouge pull”.
• No agreement: “une robe vert”, “des chaussures noir”.
• Agreement where there is none: “des yeux marrons”, “des baskets oranges”, “des yeux bleus clairs”.
• Irregular forms: “blance” for blanche, “violete” for violette, “bleux” for bleus.
• Gender of the colour itself: “la rouge” for le rouge, “le couleur” for la couleur.
• Pronunciation: sounding the t of vert or the s of gris in the masculine; orange said as in English.

In class: a colour routine

Colours are learnt in a week and forgotten in a term. A two-minute daily routine keeps them alive and turns them into an agreement workout.

1. Show an object or picture: a pencil case, a pair of trainers, a flag.
2. Ask De quelle couleur est… ? or De quelle couleur sont… ?
3. The class answers in a full sentence: La trousse est verte.
4. Reveal the answer, then swap the noun to force agreement: le cahier, la trousse, les baskets.
5. Hand the questions to a pupil, who chooses the next object in the room.

Games that fit: Jacques a dit, the French Simon says (Jacques a dit : touchez quelque chose de rouge); flags of French-speaking countries (Le drapeau belge est noir, jaune, rouge.); “odd one out” with agreement.

Adapting to your class

• A1Name the colour: C’est rouge. C’est vert.
• A2Agreement with clothes and school items: Je porte une chemise blanche et un pantalon noir.
• B1Invariable and compound colours: des yeux marron, une veste bleu marine; describing people
• B2Idioms and nuances: J’ai eu une peur bleue. J’ai passé une nuit blanche avant l’examen.

At KS2, colours with a single noun are plenty. At KS3, agreement and the marron rule are the real targets. At GCSE, colours come back in descriptions of people, clothes and places.

Frequently asked questions