L'accord des adjectifs de couleur en Français

L'accord et le placement des adjectifs de couleur en Français

Let's first look at a general rule on where to place the adjectives in French

Are color adjectives "BANGS" adjectives?

(beauty, age, number, goodness, size)

NO! they just describe the color of something. Therefore, in French, they go after the noun they describe:

A dog black. A wall red. A sky blue etc...

In French, the adjective has to agree with the noun it describes according to gender and number.

Gender= The noun described is Masculine or Feminine

Number = a) Singular there's only one item

b) Plural There are two or more

The previous chart is telling us that if the noun described is masculine and singular, you do not need to add anything to the end of the adjectif. For example, if a computer (UN ordinateur, masculin noun and singular noun since there is only one in this case) is black (noir) , we would write “un ordinateur noir” (we would not add anything at the end of noir)

If the noun described as black is feminine; “a door” (UNE porte, feminine and singular) we add an “E” at the end of noir to mark the feminine. We would write : “Une porte noire”

For several doors ( feminine and plural ); as in English we would add an “S” at the end of “door” - des portes- But the end of “black” (noir) would also get an “e” to show that “porte” is feminine AND it would get an “s” to mark the plural . "des portes noires”

LET'S LOOK AT CONCRETE EXAMPLES

BLEU

UN MUR BLEU

(masculin singulier)

UNE PORTE BLEUE

féminin , singulier

DES MURS BLEUS

masculin pluriel

DES PORTES BLEUES

féminin pluriel

VERT

UN MUR VERT

masculin singulier

UNE PORTE VERTE

Féminin singulier

DES MURS VERTS

Masculin pluriel

DES PORTES VERTES

Féminin pluriel

JAUNE

When the color ends with an "E" you do not need to add another "e" in the feminine form

UN MUR JAUNE

masculin singulier

UNE PORTE JAUNE

Féminin singulier

DES MURS JAUNES

Masculin pluriel

DES PORTES JAUNES

Féminin pluriel

ROUGE

Already ends with an "E"

UN MUR ROUGE

Masculin singulier

UNE PORTE ROUGE

Féminin singulier

DES MURS ROUGES

Masculin pluriel

DES PORTES ROUGES

Féminin pluriel

BLANC

blanc is a little different. in the feminine form, you do not just add an "E", you write it BLANCHE

UN MUR BLANC

Masculin singulier

UNE PORTE BLANCHE

Féminin singulier

DES MURS BLANCS

Masculin pluriel

DES PORTES BLANCHES

Féminin pluriel

ORANGE / MARRON

When the color adjective is actually a fruit name, the spelling never changes

MARRON

(fruit name)

UN MUR MARRON

masc. sing.

UNE PORTE MARRON

fem. sing. (fruit name , marron does not take an "e" in the feminine form)

DES MURS MARRON

Masc. plur. (fruit name , marron does not take an "s" in the plural form)

DES PORTES MARRON

Fem. Plur. (fruit name , marron does not take an "e" for the feminine form nor an"s" for the plural form)

ORANGE

( fruit name)

UN MUR ORANGE

Masc. sing.

UNE PORTE ORANGE

Fem. Sing.

DES MURS ORANGE

Masc. Plur. (fruit name , orange does not take an "s" in the plural form)

DES PORTES ORANGE

Fem. Plur. (fruit name , orange does not take an"s" in the plural form)

VIOLET

Violet is also a bit different since you have to double the "T" in the feminine form

UN MUR VIOLET

Masc. sing.

UNE PORTE VIOLETTE

Fem. sing. (notice the "double T "and the "e" needed to mark the feminine form)

DES MURS VIOLETS

Masc. plur.

DES PORTES VIOLETTES

Fem. plur. (double T+E for feminine AND "s" for plural)