Colours & Descriptions

Colours are among the first adjectives you learn in any language, and they provide an excellent gateway to understanding how French adjectives work — particularly the rules of agreement (matching gender and number with the noun they describe).

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Basic Colours (Les couleurs)

French (m. singular)	French (f. singular)	English	Pronunciation
rouge	rouge	red	"roozh"
bleu	bleue	blue	"bluh" / "bluh"
vert	verte	green	"vehr" / "vehrt"
jaune	jaune	yellow	"zhohn"
noir	noire	black	"nwahr"
blanc	blanche	white	"blahn" / "blahnsh"
gris	grise	grey	"gree" / "greez"
brun	brune	brown	"bruhn" / "brewn"
marron	marron	brown (chestnut)	"mah-ROHN"
orange	orange	orange	"oh-RAHNZH"
rose	rose	pink	"rohz"
violet	violette	purple	"vyoh-LAY" / "vyoh-LET"

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Adjective Agreement Rules

In French, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in both gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural).

Regular Patterns

Change	Rule	Example
Masculine to feminine	Add -e	vert -> verte, bleu -> bleue
Singular to plural	Add -s	vert -> verts, verte -> vertes
Already ends in -e	No change for feminine	rouge -> rouge, jaune -> jaune
Already ends in -s	No change for plural	gris -> gris

Complete Agreement Table for Common Colours

Colour	Masc. Sing.	Fem. Sing.	Masc. Plur.	Fem. Plur.
red	rouge	rouge	rouges	rouges
blue	bleu	bleue	bleus	bleues
green	vert	verte	verts	vertes
yellow	jaune	jaune	jaunes	jaunes
black	noir	noire	noirs	noires
white	blanc	blanche	blancs	blanches
grey	gris	grise	gris	grises
brown	brun	brune	bruns	brunes
pink	rose	rose	roses	roses
purple	violet	violette	violets	violettes

Invariable Colours

Some colours never change form. These are typically colours derived from nouns (the colour of a thing):

Colour	English	Why Invariable
marron	brown (chestnut)	From the noun "marron" (chestnut)
orange	orange	From the noun "orange" (the fruit)

Correct	Incorrect
des chaussures marron	des chaussures marrons
des fleurs orange	des fleurs oranges
une robe marron	une robe marronne

Tip: Think of it this way: if the colour word is also a common noun (a chestnut, an orange), it does not change. Exception: rose (also a noun — a rose) DOES agree: des fleurs roses.

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Position of Colour Adjectives

In French, colour adjectives go after the noun (unlike English, where they go before):

English	French
a red car	une voiture rouge
a blue sky	un ciel bleu
the black cat	le chat noir
green eyes	des yeux verts
white shoes	des chaussures blanches

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Common Descriptive Adjectives

Beyond colours, here are essential adjectives for describing people and things:

Size

French (m.)	French (f.)	English
grand	grande	big / tall
petit	petite	small / short
gros	grosse	fat / large
mince	mince	slim / thin
long	longue	long
court	courte	short (length)
haut	haute	high / tall (things)
bas	basse	low
large	large	wide
étroit	étroite	narrow

Appearance

French (m.)	French (f.)	English
beau / bel	belle	beautiful / handsome
joli	jolie	pretty
laid	laide	ugly
jeune	jeune	young
vieux / vieil	vieille	old
nouveau / nouvel	nouvelle	new

Special Forms: Beau, vieux, and nouveau have a special form used before masculine nouns starting with a vowel or silent h:

• un beau garçon, but un bel homme
• un vieux livre, but un vieil ami
• un nouveau film, but un nouvel an

Personality and Character