French adjectives of simple colours agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.
Here is the full agreement table:
| Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular | Masculine Plural | Feminine Plural | English |
| rouge | rouge | rouges | rouges | red |
| jaune | jaune | jaunes | jaunes | yellow |
| rose | rose | roses | roses | pink |
| bleu | bleue | bleus | bleues | blue |
| vert | verte | verts | vertes | green |
| gris | grise | gris | grises | grey |
| noir | noire | noirs | noires | black |
| violet | violette | violets | violettes | purple |
| blanc | blanche | blancs | blanches | white |
| brun | brune | bruns | brunes | dark brown |
| orange | orange |
orange |
orange |
orange |
| marron |
marron |
marron |
marron |
brown |
Note that colours ending in mute -e, such as jaune (yellow), rose (pink), rouge (red) and orange remain the same in the feminine.
ATTENTION:
J'ai deux chiens marron et une souris marron.
I've got two brown dogs and one brown mouse.
Elle a un sac orange et deux écharpes orange.
She has an orange bag and two orange scarves.
Colours marron (brown/chestnut) and orange (orange) never change in any form, plural and/or feminine.
The colour brun is defined as a dark red going on black (Dictionnaire de l'Académie française).
In colloquial French, brun will mostly be used to describe hair, skin (as in tanned skin), or fur.
In other cases, we will use marron.
Here are examples to listen to:
J'ai un stylo bleu et une chemise bleue.
I've got a blue pen and a blue shirt.
Avec deux crayons violets elle dessine une robe violette.
With two purple pencils she draws a purple dress.
Sur un arbre vert grimpe une souris verte.
On a green tree climbs a green mouse.
Je dessine un nuage rose et une panthère rose.
I'm drawing a pink cloud and a pink panther.
Je vois un soleil jaune et une fleur jaune.
I see a yellow sun and a yellow flower.
Avec un drap blanc je fais deux jupes blanches.
With a white sheet I make two white skirts.
Elle porte un chapeau rouge et deux boucles d'oreille rouges.
She's wearing a red hat and two red earrings.
Il y a un chat noir sur une chaise noire.
There is a black cat on a black chair.
Il y a un rat gris et une souris grise.
There is a grey rat and a grey mouse.
See also Adjectives usually go AFTER nouns (adjective position)
Il y a un chat noir sur une chaise noire.
There is a black cat on a black chair.
Daniel a les yeux marron et les cheveux bruns.
Daniel has brown eyes and brown hair.
Il y a un rat gris et une souris grise.
There is a grey rat and a grey mouse.
Elle a un sac orange et deux écharpes orange.
She has an orange bag and two orange scarves.
Avec deux crayons violets elle dessine une robe violette.
With two purple pencils she draws a purple dress.
Sur un arbre vert grimpe une souris verte.
On a green tree climbs a green mouse.
Je dessine un nuage rose et une panthère rose.
I'm drawing a pink cloud and a pink panther.
Je vois un soleil jaune et une fleur jaune.
I see a yellow sun and a yellow flower.
J'ai deux chiens marron et une souris marron.
I've got two brown dogs and one brown mouse.
Elle porte un chapeau rouge et deux boucles d'oreille rouges.
She's wearing a red hat and two red earrings.
J'ai un stylo bleu et une chemise bleue.
I've got a blue pen and a blue shirt.
Avec un drap blanc je fais deux jupes blanches.
With a white sheet I make two white skirts.
Hi Brenda,
I think the examples you refer to were to illustrate how 'marron' doesn't change in gender or number as other colour adjectives.
As you will know by now, there are exceptions to all rules in French, personally, I have never heard of brun being used for dogs or mice...
Hope this helps!
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Hi Jiali,
Just to add to what Chris said, when a colour is followed by a noun or an adjective the same rule applies, but without the hyphen-
e.g.
Des blousons bleu marine = Navy blue jackets
Des cheveux châtain clair = Light brown hair
Hope this helps!
Hi Jiali,
if you use a color composed of two adjectives (such as in the example you give, or, e.g., bleu-clair, brun-foncé, etc.) neither of them changes. So you get off free!
Des chaussures bleu-vert. -- Blue-green shoes (no arguing about taste, please;).
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
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Bonjour Stuart,
Here is an example from the lesson:
Elle a un sac orange et deux écharpes orange. --> She has an orange bag and two orange scarves.
As can be noticed in the example from the lesson Aurélie has given us, in plural phrases «orange» does NOT change form to agree in quantity, i.e. un sac orange and deux écharpes orange.
If one returns to the lesson and reviews the chart, the color «marron» is another case in point where the spelling does NOT change to agree in quantity.
There are a number of exceptions to agreeing colors with the noun they refer to.
The most notable one is that colors with the names of real objects (as, e.g., orange, marron etc.) remain unchanged.
Therefore the exception lies not with vêtements but with orange. -- Chris.
Bonjour Stuart !
Colours orange and marron are indeed specific cases, which are explained in more detail in the following lesson:
However, I do agree that this particularity needed to be highlighted more clearly in the lesson, and thanks to your feedback, I've now updated the lesson to make it clearer :)
Bonne journée !
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Bonjour Radhika !
That's a good question!
It depends which rule you follow regarding adjectives:
- if you consider the adjectives one by one (longs/blonds), therefore you respect their established position: long is always before the noun, and blond after, hence Elle a de longs cheveux blonds.
- if you link these two adjectives with et (and), therefore the rule is to place them after the noun, hence Elle a les cheveux longs et blonds.
In French you can do either, as long as you stay coherent with the rules.
I hope that's helpful!
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