How Do Colours and Gender Agreement Work in French?
Colours are most often used as adjectives. Adjectives are a category of words that are used to describe things. They provide more information about a noun – and therefore the words are altered, or modified, according to the gender of the noun with which they are being used.
For example, if we take an English noun, such as ‘the coat,’ we can add an adjective, such as a colour, to describe our coat. So we might say, ‘the red coat,’ to distinguish it from ‘the blue coat.’
Notice that in English we place the adjective before the noun. But in French, the adjective is often after the noun, so ‘the red coat’ would be le manteau rouge.
Adjectives may also change in French according to the gender of the noun, so there might be masculine and feminine versions of adjectives.
Let’s look at some examples, using le manteau, which is a masculine noun, and la veste, ‘jacket,’ which is feminine.
The most likely adaptation is to add an ‘-e’ to the end of the adjective, as follows:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| le manteau noir the black coat | la veste noire the black jacket |
| le manteau bleu the blue coat | la veste bleue the blue jacket |
| le manteau vert the green coat | la veste verte the green jacket |
However, if the adjective already ends in an ‘-e,’ then the adjective remains unchanged.
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| le manteau rouge the red coat | la veste rouge the red jacket |
| le manteau jaune the yellow coat | la veste jaune the yellow jacket |
| le manteau rose the pink coat | la veste rose the pink jacket |
Some adjectives are simply irregular and have to be learned on a case by case basis. In this list, ‘white’ is an irregular adjective in French.
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| le manteau blanc the white coat | la veste blanche the white jacket |
And if the noun is plural, the adjective will take a plural form as well, which is usually an ‘-s.’
| Masculine Plural | Feminine Plural |
|---|---|
| les manteaux noirs the black coats | les vestes noires the black jackets |
| les manteaux bleus the blue coats | les vestes bleues the blue jackets |
| les manteaux rouges the red coats | les vestes rouges the red jackets |
Some adjectives don’t change at all under any circumstances. In this list, that is true of the word ‘marron.’
| Masc. | Fem. | Pl. |
|---|---|---|
| le manteau marron the brown coat | la veste marron the brown jacket | les vestes marron the brown jackets |
