Our world is a vibrant tapestry of colours, and mastering these hues is a practical necessity for those venturing into the realm of French. These words, while simple, hold immense power as they are among the first adjectives we use to describe our surroundings. Understanding French colours is vital to effective communication, whether shopping, storytelling, or simply conversing.
French colours, as you'll soon discover, have their own unique characteristics that set them apart from their English counterparts. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of using colours in the French language, equipping you with the knowledge you need to navigate this linguistic landscape.
Why Colours Are So Important
You may remember learning the colours in English as a child, and this association with learning colours at such a young age may make it all feel like child's play.
However, we can assure you that colours are essential for any language learner for many reasons and some of the first French vocabulary you should learn.
Colours are not just about aesthetics; they are versatile tools in language. They enable you to describe objects, ask for specific items in a shop, and even add vividness to your storytelling. This versatility makes them a fundamental part of any language learner's toolkit.
The colours will help you describe things, but they'll also help you understand descriptions and instructions. Your active and passive vocabulary will improve, which will help you clarify and understand descriptions of objects, things, and events. When it comes to describing events, however, it helps to know the days and months in French, too!
One reassuring aspect of learning French colours is their close alignment with their English counterparts. While languages like Russian and Chinese may have specific unique colour terms, French colours largely follow a one-to-one translation pattern with English. This consistency can provide a sense of confidence as you delve into the world of French colours.
Both languages, as well as English and French, naturally have ways to modify colours, too, using other descriptors like "light", "dark", "bright", "dull", etc. Still, it's helpful to know that when learning French, you can learn a colour and know a fairly direct English translation for it.
Colours as Nouns
Much like in English, colours can be either nouns or adjectives. While the words in English are always the same, with "the colour red" ("red" as a noun) being written precisely the same as "the red ball" ("red" as an adjective), in French, it's essential to understand the difference.
In French, there is grammatical gender. Nouns are either masculine or feminine (or simply one of two classes of nouns), and adjectives are altered depending on the noun that they describe.
All colours (couleurs) are masculine nouns in French. Let's see some of the most basic ones.
- Red – Rouge
- Orange – Orange
- Yellow – Jaune
- Green – Vert
- Blue – Bleu
- Purple – Violet
- Pink – Rose
- Black – Noir
- White – Blanc
- Grey - Gris
Colours as Adjectives
As mentioned earlier, colours are slightly different when used as adjectives in French because of grammatical gender.
However, because of the names of specific colours, some will change their spelling and pronunciation based on the noun they modify.
Typically, but not always, a colour in French will add an -e to the end in the feminine form, an -s to the masculine plural form, and -es to the feminine plural form.
You'll undoubtedly have some questions about this. Make sure you learn how to ask questions in French!
One of the best colours to see this in action is blue, "bleu".
This can appear as “bleu”, “bleue”, “bleus”, or “bleues” depending on the noun.
Here are a few examples:
- Un train bleu – A blue train
- Une voiture bleue – A blue car
- Les trains bleus – The blue trains
- Les voitures bleues – The blue cars
The best colour to hear this, however, is with green, "vert".
- Un train vert – A green train
- Une voiture verte – A green car
- Les trains verts – The green trains
- Les voitures vertes – The green cars
If the colour's name ends in an "e," then the masculine and feminine forms are usually the same.
For example, Rouge (red) and jaune (yellow) only have singular and plural forms, with or without an -s.
Similarly, colours that end in an "s" won't add an -s in their plural masculine form but will add- es in their plural feminine form. For example, "gris" becomes "grise" and "grises" in the feminine singular and plural forms but remains "gris" in the masculine plural form.
The colours "orange" (orange) and "marron" (brown) are two colours that never change.
With colour adjectives having different spelling, you might want to learn the French alphabet.
Modifying Colours
To more accurately describe colours, you can also modify the colour. In English, we can do this with words like “light”, “dark”, “bright”, “dull”, etc.
Here are a few examples of these kinds of words in French:
- Clair – Light
- Fade – Faded
- Fluo – Fluorescent
- Foncé – Dark
- Vif – Bright
There's also the incredible -âtre suffix, which you can apply to French colours like we add -ish to English ones.
You should know that it means -ish in the sense of being "close to" the colour described. However, it also has a negative connotation, so it should only be used to describe unpleasant things' colour.
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Notable Exceptions
While your typical colours can describe most things, there are a few things that you would describe differently.
Just like we don't say people have “yellow” hair (unless it's actually coloured or dyed yellow), we have words like blond, brunette, redhead/ginger, etc.
French is the same when describing hair. Note that the colours typically agree with the plural because French refers to your hair using the plural cheveux.
- Blonds – Blond
- Bruns – Brown
- Châtains – Chestnut brown
- Roux – Red/ginger
- Noirs – Black
- Gris – Grey
- Blancs – White
Just remember these are the words to describe a person's hair. If you want to describe a person as "blond" or "blonde", which is one of the few (if only) examples of grammatical gender in English, you need to change the adjectives again.
You should also be aware that it's far more common in French to refer to people with "grey" hair as having "white" hair.
Also, when referring to race, each French-speaking country differs in terms of which colour terms it finds acceptable to refer to a person's background or ethnicity. You might find it useful to learn to be polite in French when asking for things.
Colours as Verbs
In French, colours can also be verbs. Essentially, these verbs mean that something becomes that colour.
In English, we'd say something reddens, yellows, blackens, whitens, etc. Here are some common ways to say things like this in French. Be sure to look closely at the ending of the verb, as this will indicate how you conjugate them, whether they're -er or -ir verbs.
- To redden – Rougir
- To become orange – Orangir
- To yellow – Jaunir
- To become green – Verdir
- To become blue – Bleuir
- To blacken – Noircir
- To whiten – Blanchir
- To brown – Brunir
- To grey – Griser
- To grey or whiten (with hair) – Grisonner
Bonus: Fancy Colours
Once you understand all the "basic" colours in French, why not expand your vocabulary with even more colours?
- Ambre – Amber
- Argenté – Silver
- Beige – Beige
- Bronze – Bronze
- Doré – Golden
- Ébène – Ebony
- Fauve – Fawn
- Fuschia – Fuschia
- Mauve – Mauve
- Multicolore – Multicoloured
- Transparent – Transparent
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Remember to check all the spelling rules for these colours before using them, as some will have to agree with masculine, feminine, singular, and plural nouns. Aside from mastering these rules, another nice way to sound more fluent in French is by learning some French expressions!
Learn French with a Private Tutor
Learning colours isn't quite a child's play in French and we don't want to burst your bubble, but colours are probably some of the most straightforward parts of learning the language.
Don't worry, though, because one of the best ways to learn a language is with a dedicated private tutor.
Luckily, plenty of experienced and qualified private French tutors are on the Superprof website.
There are also plenty of different ways to learn French with the private tutors on the Superprof website. For example, you can learn one-on-one face with local private tutors or via the internet with online tutoring, or even choose group tutoring.
Each type of tutoring has its pros and cons. Still, face-to-face tutoring tends to be far more cost-effective than online tutoring, but it's also usually more expensive.
Online tutoring for academic subjects like learning languages can be almost as effective as face-to-face tutoring, and since they're typically cheaper than face-to-face tutors, you could even find private tutors from France or a French-speaking country.
Since most private tutors on the Superprof website offer the first session for free, you can always try a few different ones before choosing the one that's right for you.
Just search for “French” on the Suyperprof website today.
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