La Couleur: How To Say The Colors In French

If you're just tapping into the world of French New Wave, I'd recommend watching any of Jean Luc-Godard's movies, like Le Mépris, Masculin féminin, Ici et Ailleurs, À bout de souffle, Pierrot Le Fou, La Chinoise, Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle, Paris vu par, Une femme est une femme, and Film Socialisme, to name a few. By watching some of Godard's acclaimed movies, you'll get a deeper appreciation for the beauty of storytelling and the sound of the French language.

Then, there’s the Godard color palette. His use of the bold primary colors (Red, Blue, and Yellow) throughout his movies always set the mood of the scene. These colors were used for more than just aesthetics, as they became important parts of his signature style. But do we know what these words are called en français?

French Colors Housekeeping:

• When describing a plural noun, the colors will end with the letter “S”.
• To agree with a feminine noun, add the letter “E” to the end.
• Color adjectives must agree with grammatical gender and number:
  • Colors ending in "E" remain the same for masculine or feminine; add "S" for plural.
  • Orange (orange) and marron (brown) never change regardless of number or gender.

Red – Rouge (rooj)

Yellow – Jaune (jon)

Blue – [f] Bleue (blu), [m] Bleu (blu)

White – [f] Blanche (blansh), [m] Blanc (blanc)

Black – [f] Noire (nwar), Noir (nwar)

Green – [f] Verte (vert), [m] Vert (ver)

Pink – Rose (ros)

Purple – [f] Violette (veeyolet), Violet (veeyole)

Orange – Orange (oranj)

Gray – [f] Grise (grees), [m] Gris (gree)