{"id":25945,"date":"2017-01-31T05:18:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T04:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=25945"},"modified":"2018-03-23T13:53:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T12:53:31","slug":"rainbows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/rainbows\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring is still many weeks away . . . at least up here in the h\u00e9misph\u00e8re nord<\/strong> (northern hemisphere) <\/em>and in the midst of un janvier froid et gris<\/strong> (a cold and grey January), <\/em>I know we can all use a little taste of spring to get us through. En plus<\/strong> (And<\/em>), last week’s post with its bikini rouge et jaune \u00e0 petits pois <\/strong><\/a>(red and yellow polka dot bikini)\u00a0<\/em>got me thinking about all the colors of un arc-en-ciel<\/strong> (lit. an arc in the sky . . . <\/em>or a rainbow).<\/em><\/p>\n

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Un arc-en-ciel au dessus d’une \u00e9glise \u00e0 Morbihan en France.<\/strong> \/ A rainbow over a church in Morbihan, France. (By St\u00e9phanie De Nada\u00ef (Own work) [GFDL (http:\/\/www.gnu.org\/copyleft\/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p><\/div>\n

Les couleurs de l’arc-en-ciel sont<\/strong> (The colors of the rainbow are)<\/em>
\nrouge<\/strong> \/ red<\/em>
\norange<\/strong> \/ orange<\/em>
\njaune<\/strong> \/ yellow<\/em>
\nvert*<\/a><\/strong> \/ green<\/em>
\nbleu<\/strong> \/ blue*<\/em><\/a>
\nindigo<\/strong> \/ indigo<\/em>
\nviolet<\/strong> \/ violet (or purple)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

(Do you know the common mnemonic device for remembering the colors of the rainbow [in English, at least]? Roy G. Biv.)<\/p>\n

noir<\/strong> et blanc<\/strong> (black and white)<\/em> are not – scientifically speaking – colors, but they’re certainly useful words to know.<\/p>\n

As are:
\nmarron<\/strong> \/ brown<\/em>
\ngris<\/strong> \/ grey<\/em>
\nrose<\/strong> \/ pink*<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Les couleurs peuvent \u00eatre <\/strong>(Colors can be)
\n<\/em>clair<\/strong> \/ light<\/em>
\nfonc\u00e9<\/strong> \/ dark
\n<\/em>vif<\/strong> \/ bright<\/em>
\np\u00e2le<\/strong> \/ pale<\/em><\/p>\n

It is important to remember that colors are also adjectives. Most, like other adjectives in French, need to agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify . . . but it would be too easy if they all did! As is often the case, there are exceptions. As a general rule:
\nsimple colors must agree (une voiture grise<\/strong> \/ a grey car<\/em>; des livres rouges<\/strong> \/ red books<\/em>; une souris verte<\/strong> \/ a green mouse<\/em>)
\ncompound colors do not agree (des chaussures bleu p\u00e2le<\/strong> \/ light blue shoes<\/em>; des crayons jaune citron \/ <\/strong>lemon yellow pencils<\/em>)
\ncolors that are also nouns, do not agree (une chemise marron<\/strong> \/ a brown shirt<\/em>; des chaises orange<\/strong> \/ orange chairs<\/em>)<\/p>\n

This site<\/a> is a handy reference (and lists lots and lots of additional colors if you ever need them!).<\/p>\n

Here are two videos you can use to practice what you’ve learned today. They’re both, comment dire?<\/strong> (how do you say?), <\/em>interesting!<\/p>\n