French Color Adjectives - Lawless French Grammar


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Adjectifs de couleur

When colors are used as adjectives,* they usually need to agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number – but there are some notable exceptions.

1) Adjectives from nouns

Most colors that come from nouns (usually found in nature, like animals, flowers, fruit, and minerals) are invariable.

abricot		apricot
amarante		amaranthine
ambre		amber
améthyste		amethyst
ardoise		slate-grey
argent		silver
aubergine		eggplant
avocat		avocado
brique		brick-red
bruyère		heather
café		coffee
canari		canary yellow
caramel		caramel
carmin		carmine
cerise		cherry red
champagne		champagne
chocolat		chocolate-brown
citron		lemon-yellow
corail		coral
crême		cream
cuivre		copper
ébène		ebony
emeraude		emerald green
fraise		strawberry
framboise		raspberry
grenat		garnet
indigo		indigo
ivoire		ivory
jade		jade
kaki		khaki
lavande		lavender
lilas		lilac
marine		navy
marron		brown
noisette		hazel
ocre		ochre
olive		olive-green
or		gold
orange		orange
paille		straw-colored
pastel		pastel
pastèque		watermelon
pêche		peach
pervenche		periwinkle
pie		piebald, black and white
pistache		pistachio-green
platine		platinum
prune		plum
puce		puce
rouille		rust-colored
rubis		ruby red
sable		sand-colored
safran		saffron-colored
saphir		sapphire-blue
saumon		salmon-pink
sépia		sepia
tabac		tobacco brown
tango		bright orange
tomate		tomato red
topaze		topaz
turquoise		turquoise
vermillon		vermillion

These two colors are also invariable:

auburn		auburn
pers		blue-green

Exceptions

a. Châtain (chestnut) doesn’t agree in gender, but it does in number.

b. These adjectives derived from nouns follow the normal rules of adjective agreement:

alezan		chestnut
fauve		fawn
incarnat		rosy, crimson
mauve		mauve
pourpre		crimson
rose		pink
vermeil		vermillion
violet		violet

2) Connected Colors

When colors are combined, agreement depends on what exactly the colors are describing.

a. Multiple nouns with different colors (some are one color, some are the other) = agreement

des maisons blanches et vertes		white and green houses (white houses and green houses)
des fleurs rouges, orange et jaunes		red, orange, and yellow flowers (some red, some orange, some yellow)

Remember that the adjective orange is invariable no matter what.

b. Multicolored noun(s) = no agreement

des maisons blanc et vert		white and green houses (white houses with green trim)
des fleurs rouge, orange et jaune		red, orange, and yellow flowers (each flower has all three colors)

You can see here how French agreement adds useful information that is lacking in English, which requires clarification to avoid confusion.

3) Compound Colors

Colors made up of two or more words are always invariable.

a. Two colors

une maison bleu gris		blue-grey house
la robe vert jaune		yellow-green dress
des crayons rouge violet		red-violet pencils

b. Color + adjective

une voiture vert clair		light-green car
la peinture bleu intermédiaire		medium-blue paint
des chapeaux rouge foncé		dark-red hats

c. Color + noun

une chemise gris acier		steel-grey shirt
la voiture vert mousse		moss-green car
des oiseaux jaune citron		lemon-yellow birds

* We tend to think of colors as adjectives, but in both French and English, they can also be nouns.

Par exemple…

Ma couleur préférée est le bleu. Le bleu est ma couleur préférée.		My favorite color is blue. Blue is my favorite color.
Je préfère le vert.		I prefer green.