Introduction to colours in French
To add colour to your vocabulary in French, you need to know the names of colours in French and how to use these colours in French. Luckily, this isn’t very difficult. You probably know a few of these colours already. First, let’s look at the three most important.
- Red – Rouge
- Blue – Bleu
- Green – Vert
Now, most of the time colours are used to say something about a noun. In other words, they function as adjectives. When describing a noun, like for example a book (livre), you put the colours after the noun in French. So it would be:
- Un livre bleu
- A blue book
- Une voiture rouge
- A red car
- Un thé vert
- A green tea
Notice that in English, when you say something about a noun, the word you use to describe it is put in front of the noun. So when a book is blue, the word ‘blue’ comes before ‘book’. In French, this is the other way around. In this case, bleu comes after the noun. Let’s look at a few more examples.
- Elle a acheté une voiture rouge
- She bought a red car
- Le jardin est rempli de plantes vertes
- The garden is filled with green plants
Conjugating colours in French
In French, when colours are used as adjectives, they must agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe. So colours can be conjugated for masculine and feminine nouns and they can be singular and plural. On top of that, there are colours that have their own gender but just not change. They are invariable.
This seems to make French colours somewhat difficult but bear with us. We are going to make it easy for you with a summary down below. First of all, the standard way you learn colours is in their masculine form. Rouge, bleu and vert are all in theur masculine form. When describing a feminine noun an extra ‘e’ is added. In the plural form, usually an extra ‘s’ is added. So let’s make some rules.
- Masculine noun: no change
- Feminine noun: add an ‘e’
- Plural noun: add an ‘s’
- Feminine + plural noun: add ‘es’
So let’s look at how this works in practice. Un livre (a book) is a masculine noun, so when combined with the masculine bleu, you just get:
- Un livre bleu
- A blue book
But when describing a robe (a dress), which is a feminine noun, you add the extra ‘e’ to bleu so it becomes:
- Une robe bleue
- A blue dress
When the noun is in its plural form of a masculine noun like livres (books), you get an extra ‘s’. So it becomes bleus.
- Des livres bleus
- Blue books
And when you have a feminine noun in its plural form, like robes (dresses), you add both ‘e’ and ‘s’, so you get bleues.
- Des robes bleues
- Blue dresses
This also holds when you make the sentence bigger. For example when you say
- The sea is blue
- La mer est bleue
Another longer example:
- The leaves of the trees turn red and golden in the fall
- Les feuilles des arbres deviennent rouges et dorées à l’automne
Straightforward right? But there are some exceptions. For example rouge (red) does not change for gender. It’s the same for masculine and feminine nouns. But it does change for plural nouns and becomes rouges. Then you have invariable colours that never change, like orange (orange). Some colours have their own unique ending when conjugating with feminine nouns like blanc (white) and violet (purple). Below is a list of 11 common colours and their specific endings depending on the noun.
Most common colours in English and French
| English | French (masculine) | Feminine | Plural masculine | Plural feminine |
| 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 |
| Gray | Gris | Grise | Gris | Grises |
| Orange | Orange (invariable) | Orange | Orange | Orange |
| Purple | Violet | Violette | Violets | Violettes |
| Pink | Rose | Rose | Roses | Roses |
| Brown | Marron (invariable) | Marron | Marron | Marron |
French colours as a noun
So in all the cases above, we used colours as an adjective. Most of the time you will use a colour as an adjective. But you can use them in more ways. A colour can be a noun, for instance. For example, you can say
- Red is my favorite color
- Le rouge est ma couleur préférée
- The blue of the sky is magnificent
- Le bleu du ciel est magnifique
- The green of the trees soothes the eyes
- Le vert des arbres apaise les yeux
Other uses of colours in French
As part of expressions or idioms
- Colorus are often used in idiomatic expressions in French to convey meanings beyond their literal colour:
- Voir rouge (To see red) – to become very angry.
- Être dans le noir (To be in the dark) – to be clueless or uninformed.
- Avoir une peur bleue (To have a blue fear) – to be extremely scared.
- Être vert de jalousie (To be green with envy).
Colours as a verbs
- Some colours have given rise to verbs, although this is less common.
- Rougir (To blush or turn red): Derived from “rouge.”
- Verdir (To turn green): Derived from “vert.”
- Noircir (To blacken or darken): Derived from “noir.”
Symbollic use of colours in French
- Colours can represent political parties, emotions, or even objects:
- Les Verts (The Greens): Refers to the green political party.
- Un bleu (A rookie): Refers to someone inexperienced, often in a professional or military context.
As adverbs
- Although rare, colours can sometimes modify verbs in a way that implies a characteristic of a colour.
- Il est mort de rire, rouge de honte. (He died laughing, red with shame.)
List of 50 colours and their respective conjugations
| English | French (masculine) | Feminine | Plural masculine | Plural feminine |
| 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 |
| Gray | Gris | Grise | Gris | Grises |
| Orange | Orange (invariable) | Orange | Orange | Orange |
| Purple | Violet | Violette | Violets | Violettes |
| Pink | Rose | Rose | Roses | Roses |
| Brown | Marron (invariable) | Marron | Marron | Marron |
| Light Blue | Bleu clair | Bleue claire | Bleus clairs | Bleues claires |
| Dark Blue | Bleu foncé | Bleue foncée | Bleus foncés | Bleues foncées |
| Golden | Doré | Dorée | Dorés | Dorées |
| Silver | Argenté | Argentée | Argentés | Argentées |
| Beige | Beige | Beige | Beiges | Beiges |
| Turquoise | Turquoise | Turquoise | Turquoises | Turquoises |
| Lavender | Lavande | Lavande | Lavandes | Lavandes |
| Peach | Pêche | Pêche | Pêches | Pêches |
| Burgundy | Bordeaux | Bordeaux | Bordeaux | Bordeaux |
| Teal | Sarcelle | Sarcelle | Sarcelles | Sarcelles |
| Olive | Olive | Olive | Olives | Olives |
| Lilac | Lilas | Lilas | Lilas | Lilas |
| Crimson | Cramoisi | Cramoisie | Cramoisies | Cramoisies |
| Lime | Citron vert | Citron verte | Citrons verts | Citrons vertes |
| Navy | Marine | Marine | Marines | Marines |
| Emerald | Émeraude | Émeraude | Émeraudes | Émeraudes |
| Light Red | Rouge clair | Rouge claire | Rouges clairs | Rouges claires |
| Amber | Ambre | Ambre | Ambres | Ambres |
| Mint | Menthe | Menthe | Menthes | Menthes |
| Dark Red | Rouge foncé | Rouge foncée | Rouges foncés | Rouges foncées |
| Chocolate | Chocolat | Chocolat | Chocolats | Chocolats |
| Ruby | Rubis | Rubis | Rubis | Rubis |
| Topaz | Topaze | Topaze | Topazes | Topazes |
| Indigo | Indigo | Indigo | Indigos | Indigos |
| Ivory | Ivoire | Ivoire | Ivoires | Ivoires |
| Bronze | Bronze | Bronze | Bronzes | Bronzes |
| Azure | Azur | Azur | Azurs | Azurs |
| Mahogany | Acajou | Acajou | Acajous | Acajous |
| Powder Blue | Bleu poudre | Bleue poudre | Bleus poudres | Bleues poudres |
| Fuchsia | Fuchsia | Fuchsia | Fuchsias | Fuchsias |
| Plum | Prune | Prune | Prunes | Prunes |
| Maroon | Marron foncé | Marron foncée | Marrons foncés | Marrons foncées |