NOW TESTING MY NEW FRENCH LANGUAGE SOFTWARE, THE FRENCH-eTUTOR, still in Beta version! Enjoy!! (For Windows only! Sorry, I’m currently working to make it available to Mac and Linux users in the future.)
French-eTutor - Colors 
Or if, for security reason, you prefer to download the Zip file, click here to get it: 
French-eTutor - Les couleurs
Context:
Colors surround us everywhere. Red cars, white shirts, blue pants, green pencils, black ink, and the list can go on forever. Personally, I cannot imagine what life would be like without colors, and I’m sure you, neither. Therefore this lesson will introduce color names in French so we can learn how to speak a more colorful French 
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Goals:
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to do the following:
- know the names of the principal colors in French
- use them in sentences to modify nouns, for example, un chemisier vert/a green blouse
- know how to ask in French the question “what color is…?”
Chapter 1 –> Lesson 5:
Level of difficulty: Easy
What you should absolutely know about using color names in sentences.
? In French, color names will generally go AFTER the noun they modify: la Maison Blanche (the White House>, where the color blanche (white) goes after the noun maison (house).
? Color names in French will agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. Unlike in English where color names will remain invariable, colors in French will take a feminine or masculine form depending on the name they modify: un crayon noir (a black pencil). une ceinture noire (a black belt).
In the plural form, that is, when the noun they accompany is plural, you must usually add an “s“: un crayon noir –> des crayons noirs (black pencils).
In this lesson, I present you both forms of each color name whenever available. However, some color names remain in the same form whether they are masculine or feminine, for example, jaune (yellow) or rouge (red). In this case, you will see only one version written and one pronunciation. Note, though, that they DO take “s” when in the plural.
? Colors followed by (inv.) do not change at all regardless of the gender and number of the noun they accompany. They don’t even take “s” in the plural form.
Scenario: Your best friend can’t stop talking about the new shirt he just bought… (and of course, you’re happy for him). You want to ask him”what color is the shirt?” How do you do that in French? Well, it’s easy. Just repeat this sentence: De quelle couleur est la chemise?
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The most important part of this sentence is De quelle couleur est… because you can complete your question with whatever name of object you can think of after it. A few examples to illustrate my point…
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De quelle couleur est la robe? what color is the dress?La robe est jaune. The dress is yellow. |
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De quelle couleur est le chien? what color is the dog?Le chien est noir. The dog is black. |
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De quelle couleur est la voiture? what color is the car?La voiture est rouge. The car is red. |
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It’s now time to look at the colors themselves!
Les couleurs
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rouge redDu vin rouge. (Some) red wine. |
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bleu/bleue blueLe ciel est bleu. The sky is blue. |
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orange (inv.) orangeIl y a un oiseau orange dans le ciel. There is an orange bird in the sky. |
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marron (inv.) maroonJ’aime la couleur marron I like the color maroon. |
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jaune yellowC’est un chapeau jaune. It’s a yellow hat. |
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violet/violette purpleMarie aime les fleurs violettes. Mary likes purple flowers. |
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vert/verte greenL’herbe est verte. The grass is green. |
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rose pinkC’est une belle jupe rose. It’s a pretty pink dress. |
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noir/noire blackJe porte des chaussures noires. I am wearing black shoes. |
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blanc/blanche whiteUn short blanc. A white pair of shorts |
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gris/grise grey(gray)Un ciel gris. A grey sky |
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Quelle la belle leçon.
Quelle belle leçon.
very nice
this is a great way to learn french
merci beaucoup professeur!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi. Thanks for your reply to lesson 4. I came to this lesson to see the rule explained but I didnt quite get it.
In the rule about colors that don’t change regardless of gender and being in plural – what are the colors followed by? It says inv. in brackets?
Thanks
Salut! (inv.) is the abbreviation for invariable. When you use color names such as marron or orange, they will remain the same as I explained in the rules above: “Des jupes orange” or des tables marron. However, colors names like jaune , rouge, rose will take “S” in the plural form even though they do not change based on gender (that is they do not accept an extra E in the feminine form (mostly because they already end in E in their basic form). Hope this helps
thank you prof_frenchtastics
greattttttttttttttt
J’aime la couleur bleu.
Quelle est votre couleur préféréeprof_frenchtastic ???
Simo
Quelle coincidence! Moi aussi, j’aime beaucoup la couleur bleuE.
haaaaaa
Nous avons quelque chose en commun.
Love your lessons!
great exercise! would love to be able to download the sound!
Salut Lindale, check out the new program on the color unit. You can download it and the review flashcards come with sound, too.