A1Unit 9 of the A1 course · « Les vêtements et les couleurs »
Colours in French come after the noun, une robe rouge, and most of them agree with it. This page covers clothes, colours, sizes in France and what to say in a shop.
By the end of this unit you can: buy clothes in a shop and describe what people are wearing.
English says a pair of trousers. French just says un pantalon, singular, and the same goes for un short. Learn every piece of clothing with its un or une: there's no rule that tells you which.
In French the colour goes after the noun: un pull rouge, a red jumper. Colours are adjectives, so they agree: add -e for a feminine noun and -s for a plural one.
Colours that already end in -e stay the same in the feminine: rouge, jaune, rose. Blanc is a bit special: it becomes blanche. And marron and orange never change at all, not even in the plural.
Clothes come in numbered sizes (36, 38, 40…) or in letters (S, M, L). Either way, you say je fais du… For shoes, the shop assistant asks for your pointure.
To point at something, use ce with a masculine word, cette with a feminine word and ces with a plural. Before a vowel or a silent h, ce becomes cet, so the words run together smoothly.
Porter is a regular -er verb: je porte, tu portes, il porte. French has no separate « -ing » form, so il porte un manteau means he wears a coat or he's wearing a coat right now.
It's January and the sales have started. Camila needs a warm coat for the Lyon winter, so she goes to the shops at the Part-Dieu. Follow her through the shop.
Tap 🔊 to hear each one, recorded by a native-sounding French voice.
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| pantalon(masculine) | pair of trousersJust one word in French, not a pair: un pantalon. | |
| jupe(feminine) | skirt | |
| robe(feminine) | dress | |
| chemise(feminine) | shirtA shirt with buttons. A T-shirt is un tee-shirt. | |
| tee-shirt(masculine) | T-shirtYou'll also see it spelt t-shirt. | |
| pull(masculine) | jumper / sweaterShort for pull-over. The ll sounds like a single l, and the u is the French u of tu. | |
| manteau(masculine) | coatPlural with an x: des manteaux. | |
| short(masculine) | pair of shortsLike pantalon, it's one word: un short. | |
| chaussure(feminine) | shoeYou'll mostly need the plural: des chaussures. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| noir | blackFeminine: noire. It sounds exactly the same. | |
| blanc | whiteFeminine: blanche. Listen for the « sh » sound at the end. | |
| rouge | redIt already ends in -e, so the feminine is the same: une robe rouge. | |
| bleu | blueFeminine: bleue. One more letter, same sound. | |
| vert | greenFeminine: verte. Now you hear the t. | |
| jaune | yellowEnds in -e, so it doesn't change: une jupe jaune. | |
| gris | greyFeminine: grise, with a z sound at the end. | |
| rose | pinkAlso the name of the flower: une rose. | |
| marron | brownIt never changes: une jupe marron, des chaussures marron. Un marron is also a chestnut. | |
| orange | orangeLike marron, it never changes: des chaussures orange. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| je cherche…Je cherche une chemise blanche. (I'm looking for a white shirt.) | I'm looking for… | |
| taille(feminine) | size (clothes)For shoes the word is la pointure. | |
| vous faites quelle taille ? | what size are you?Answer with je fais du…: Je fais du 38. Je fais du M. | |
| je peux l'essayer ? | can I try it on?You try clothes on in la cabine d'essayage, the fitting room. | |
| c'est trop petit | it's too small | |
| c'est trop grand | it's too big | |
| ça coûte combien ? | how much does it cost?For more than one thing: Elles coûtent combien ? | |
| je le prends | I'll take itLe for a masculine thing, la for a feminine one: la robe ? Je la prends. | |
| les soldes | the salesAlways plural. In France the big sales are in January and in summer. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| cece pull (this jumper) | this / that (masculine) | |
| cetcet anorak (this anorak) | this / that (masculine, before a vowel)Cet sounds exactly like cette. | |
| cettecette robe (this dress) | this / that (feminine) | |
| cesces chaussures (these shoes) | these / thoseThe same for masculine and feminine words. | |
| porterIl porte un pull bleu. (He's wearing a blue jumper.) | to wearIt also means to carry. |
This unit is part of French Ultimate's A1 course: 5 short lessons with an animated video each, speaking and listening practice, a reading and an end-of-unit test.
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