Colors in French with pictures

Colors in French are some of the first words young children can use in real sentences, because colours are everywhere: in clothes, toys, food and the sky. This page has 12 colours with pictures and clear French audio: rouge, jaune, bleu, vert, orange, violet, rose, marron, noir, blanc, gris and bleu ciel. Tap a colour to hear it in French and English, then play Find it.

The 12 colours and how to say them

Notice the silent endings: the t in vert, the c in blanc, the s in gris. Tap each colour a few times; the audio makes these sounds much clearer than any spelling.

Vert or verte? Colours that change

In French, most colours agree with the thing they describe. With a feminine word they often add an -e: un ballon vert but une pomme verte, where the t is now heard. Some change more: blanc becomes blanche, and violet becomes violette. Colours that already end in -e stay the same: rouge, jaune, rose. And colours named after things never change: orange (the fruit), marron (the chestnut) and bleu ciel. The colour usually comes after the noun: la voiture rouge, "the car red". Just use full phrases with your child and let their ear do the work.

Brown: marron or brun?

In France, children say marron for most brown things, from shoes to teddy bears. The word comes from le marron, the chestnut roasted in street stalls in winter. Brun is used mostly for hair and in Quebec, where it is the everyday word for brown. Both are correct, and your child will meet both.

Colours in French culture

The French flag is bleu, blanc, rouge, and French people often call the national team « les Bleus ». In Provence, summer fields of lavender turn the hills violet, and painters like Claude Monet filled canvases with the blues and greens of his garden at Giverny, which you can look at together in a picture book. At the marché, fruit and vegetables make a real-life colour chart: des tomates rouges, des citrons jaunes, des haricots verts. In école maternelle, colour is a daily topic: children sort beads, mix paints and paint rainbows, called l'arc-en-ciel.

How the colour game works

In Listen mode each card says the colour in French and then English, or in the order you choose with the language button. In Find it, Golu asks « Où est le vert ? » with two to four choices, depending on the age setting. If colours are hard for your child, switch on fewer choices or high contrast in the grown-up settings. There is never a "wrong" sound: a missed tap gets a gentle hint, and every game ends with a marble in the Goli Jar.

Colour games at home

1. Je vois. The French "I spy": « Je vois quelque chose de bleu... »
2. Laundry sort. Sort socks into colour piles and name each one.
3. Paint mixing. Jaune plus bleu makes vert. Let your child discover it with fingers or a brush.
4. Rainbow snack. Line up fruit from rouge to violet; the fruits in French page gives the names.

At 2-3, children match colours before naming them. At 3-4, they name four to six colours. At 4-5, they know all twelve and say « Ma couleur préférée, c'est le rose. » At 5-6, they begin to use clair and foncé (light and dark). If your child confuses colours for a long time, or colour-blindness runs in the family, mention it to your paediatrician. Compare with English colours name or colours in Mexican Spanish, and print this page from your browser for a colour chart.

Les couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel

Rouge, orange, jaune, vert, bleu et violet : ce sont les couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel ! Partez à la chasse aux couleurs dans la maison, dans la rue et au parc. De quelle couleur est la porte ? Et le chien du voisin ?

Dessinez ensemble avec des feutres ou de la peinture, et dites le nom de chaque couleur à voix haute. Si votre enfant dit « bleu » pour le violet, demandez-lui ce qu'il voit et parlez-en ensemble. L'important, c'est de jouer et de parler en français.

How to use this page at home

Say it, then find it

Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: french words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.

Ten minutes is enough

Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.

Use both languages

Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.