French colours: when vert becomes verte
Vocalyra teaching team · Last updated:
Most French colour words are adjectives and agree with the noun they describe. But colours borrowed from objects, like marron and orange, never change. Knowing the two groups prevents visible writing errors.
Colours that agree
The classic colours agree like ordinary adjectives: un mur blanc, une porte blanche, des murs blancs, des portes blanches. Vert adds an e in the feminine (verte), and some have irregular feminines: roux becomes rousse and violet becomes violette.
Colours that never change
Colours that come from nouns for objects stay invariable: des robes orange, des chaussures marron, des yeux noisette, des murs chocolat. Compound colour names are also invariable: des vestes bleu clair, des yeux vert foncé. This surprises learners, because the agreement instinct is strong.
| Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Note |
|---|---|---|
| noir | noire | regular agreement |
| vert | verte | adds e |
| violet | violette | adds te |
| roux | rousse | irregular |
| blanc | blanche | irregular |
| marron | marron | invariable |
| orange | orange | invariable |
| bleu clair | bleu clair | compound, invariable |
Colours after the noun
Colour adjectives almost always follow the noun in French: une voiture rouge, never une rouge voiture. Saying my favourite colour is uses mon, ma, mes by the gender of couleur, which is feminine: ma couleur préférée est le bleu. Note also that le bleu, le rouge as nouns are always masculine.
Colours also appear in set expressions where agreement is fixed by the noun inside the phrase: voir rouge (to see red, to lose your temper), être vert de rage, une nuit blanche (a sleepless night). Hair colour uses its own vocabulary: une femme blonde, un homme brun, les cheveux gris, and roux for red hair with its feminine rousse. Eye colours normally agree when they are simple adjectives: elle a les yeux verts. Compound colours stay invariable: des yeux vert foncé. When describing objects, place the colour last and check the two groups before writing anything official.
A last note on spelling in dictations: blanc and gris have silent final consonants, while blanche and grise pronounce the consonants before the feminine -e. Noir and noire both pronounce their final r. Hearing that difference is the easiest way to know whether a colour is masculine or feminine when someone speaks. And remember rose (pink) is invariable only in compound phrases like rose pâle; alone it agrees: des fleurs roses.
Quick self-check
Choose: des pommes (vertes / vert)
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vertes
Choose: des jupes (oranges / orange)
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orange
Choose: une chemise (blanche / blanc)
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blanche
Choose: des manteaux (marron / marrons)
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marron