Want to\u00a0talk about the chromatic wonders that\u00a0you see around you\u2014in French?<\/p>\n
Learning colors in French and<\/em> the words used to describe them will allow you to convey a number of other feelings and experiences, while discovering a bit more about French culture<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n In this post, I’ll go over the words for colors in French, as well as the most common ways that you’ll likely encounter them in your kaleidoscopic French life.<\/p>\n [fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rose<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0as a color adjective in French means “pink,” not the warmer crimsony color we Anglophones tend to think of when we use “rose”\u00a0as a color.<\/p>\n As a noun, however, une<\/em>\u00a0rose<\/em>\u00a0denotes\u00a0the same flower as in English.\u00a0<\/p>\n Note that the pronunciation of rose<\/em> contrasts with the name of the wine, vin ros\u00e9<\/em>, for which one does pronounce the last letter.<\/p>\n Be aware that rose<\/em> as an adjective is also used to describe things that are erotic, so a t\u00e9l\u00e9phone rose<\/em>\u00a0is not a pink telephone, but rather a phone service for… you know what.<\/p>\n This color, as in English, is the name of the fruit<\/a> as well. You can thus have jus d’orange<\/em>\u00a0(orange juice) at breakfast as well as marmelade d’orange<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(orange marmalade).<\/p>\n Variants include orange br\u00fbl\u00e9<\/em> (burnt orange) and the intentionally vaguer orang\u00e9<\/em>\u00a0(orangey). Note: orange<\/em> is an invariable adjective, whereas\u00a0orang\u00e9<\/em> is not.<\/p>\n What we call a yellow stoplight is seen as orange in France: feu orange<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n Red gets all kinds of uses and associations in English, so it shouldn’t surprise you that the same is true in French.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rouge<\/em><\/strong> is the color of the communists and can work as both a noun to describe such a person or an adjective to describe a viewpoint.<\/p>\n People like me who are rather carefree oenophiles<\/a> will simply order un verre de rouge<\/em>\u00a0(a glass of red) in any French bar, to indicate that we could care less if it is from Bourgogne, Bordeaux, or what have you.<\/p>\n Here are a\u00a0few other quite easy parallels to English:<\/p>\n The lovely verb rougir<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0means to turn red (in any sense), including to blush.<\/p>\n One of the most important uses of\u00a0jaune<\/em><\/strong> is in Le Tour de France;<\/em> the leader in the race wears the maillot jaune<\/strong><\/em>, or yellow jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n Un<\/strong><\/em> jaune d’\u0153uf<\/em><\/strong> (literally, yellow of egg) is an egg yolk.<\/p>\n As a noun,\u00a0jaune\u00a0<\/em>is an offensive term for an Asian person as well as a scab, in the sense of somebody who goes to work during a strike.<\/p>\n As with the English equivalent, vert <\/em><\/strong>gets laden with all sorts of different symbolism and can thus be of use in many situations.<\/p>\n Here’s a short sampling of the most common uses:<\/p>\n Bleu<\/em><\/strong> has a few fun popular tasks in addition to its day job as an indicator of color. Most compellingly, un bleu<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is what you might get after being punched in the face (a bruise).<\/p>\n Les Bleus<\/strong><\/em> is used to refer to French national sporting teams, such as the national soccer team.<\/p>\n You can also ask for un steak bleu<\/strong><\/em>, which means that your meat will barely touch the pan.<\/p>\n And if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re not green as you would be in English, but rather are considered un bleu<\/strong><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n Be careful not to confuse this with pourpre<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(see the following); these aren’t synonyms in French.<\/p>\n To the French eye, when you get too cold your skin turns\u00a0violet<\/em><\/strong> rather than blue.<\/p>\n There’s a bit of debate about if or to what degree language affects color perception<\/a>, but in any case, you need to get used to the idea that reddish purple, or pourpre<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is its own category in French. Cramoisi<\/strong><\/em>, or crimson, is purplish red.<\/p>\n The French eye distinguishes pourpre<\/em>\u00a0from\u00a0violet<\/em>, which is more bluish; only the latter is what Anglophones\u00a0would generally call purple. You can see an example of pourpre<\/em>\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to the simple description of color,\u00a0noir<\/em><\/strong> can be a noun for a black person. Un noir<\/strong><\/em> thus means a black man and une noire<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is a black woman.<\/p>\n The fun and quite useful phrase noir de monde<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0means simply “crowded.”<\/p>\n In addition to its chromatic duty as an adjective, noir<\/em> can mean “gloomy”; hopefully the idea of film noir<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0now makes that much more sense.<\/p>\n As a noun,\u00a0blanc<\/em><\/strong> can mean\u00a0both a white person and a white wine. So le blanc boit un blanc<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(although it sounds a bit silly) could be used to say “the white man is drinking a white wine.”<\/p>\n The noun also means “blank,” for example laisser un blanc<\/strong><\/em> is to leave a blank or a space in a document. And, \u00e9crit en noir et blanc<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>means the same as in English: written in black and white.<\/p>\n In addition to its work as a color, the word\u00a0gris<\/em><\/strong> can denote the weather<\/a>, particularly in Brittany or Paris: il fait gris<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(it is overcast\/gloomy).<\/p>\n When used to describe a person, as in Mathilde est un peu grise<\/strong><\/em>, it means that Mathilde is a bit tipsy.<\/p>\n This variation of brown in French is mostly used to describe a lighter brown eye color. It’s also used to describe most brown objects in French.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a noun, marron<\/em> means chestnuts, and you might hear someone say “Chaud, les marrons !”<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>to let you know you should be careful.\u00a0<\/p>\n This cute French idiom comes from when people would sell roasted nuts on the side of the road and would yell this to draw your attention.<\/p>\n Brun<\/strong><\/em> is a darker brown, usually used to describe hair color or skin color.<\/p>\n In order to use French colors correctly, it’s important that you understand the grammatical rules<\/strong> that surround them.\u00a0<\/p>\n As nouns, French colors will always be masculine, but we will mostly see colors used as adjectives. As with all adjectives, most French colors will need to reflect the gender<\/a> and number of the noun they’re describing<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some colors will add an e<\/em><\/strong> for feminine nouns and an s<\/em><\/strong> if the noun is plural.<\/p>\n There are exceptions to this, as\u00a0marron\u00a0<\/em>and orange<\/em> never change, despite the gender or number. There are also a few colors that end in\u00a0e<\/em>, such as jaune<\/em> and rouge<\/em>, so they don’t change with gender.<\/p>\n Here is a table with the colors we’ve covered and their variations with gender and number.<\/p>\n\n1. Rose<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Pink<\/h2>\n
2. Orange<\/em> \u2014\u00a0<\/em>Orange<\/h2>\n
3. Rouge<\/em>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Red<\/h2>\n
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4. Jaune<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Yellow<\/h2>\n
5. Vert<\/em> \u2014 Green<\/h2>\n
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6. Bleu<\/em> \u2014 Blue<\/h2>\n
7. <\/em>Violet<\/em> \u2014 Purple<\/h2>\n
8. Pourpre<\/em> \u2014 Reddish Purple<\/h2>\n
9. Noir<\/em> \u2014 Black<\/h2>\n
10. Blanc<\/em> \u2014 White<\/h2>\n
11. Gris<\/em> \u2014 Gray<\/h2>\n
12. Marron<\/em> \u2014 Brown<\/h2>\n
French Colors and Grammar<\/h2>\n