3.30520 · Section 3: Personal and social life

Clothes, colours and appearance

Key learnings

Learn each clothing item with its article
Clothing nouns split unpredictably between le/la, so learn the article with the word: le pantalon, le manteau, le pull (m) versus la chemise, la robe, la veste (f). Note the false friend: une veste is a jacket, not a vest (un gilet). Several items are naturally plural — les chaussures, les baskets, les lunettes — so les chaussures sont, not "est". The full table is in the study note.
Colours agree and follow the noun
Colours are adjectives: they agree in gender and number and normally go after the noun — une chemise bleue, des chaussures vertes, un pantalon blanc (blanc is irregular: blanc/blanche/blancs/blanches). Only the small BAGS set (beau, joli, jeune, vieux, bon, grand, petit) precedes the noun. Two colours are invariable: marron and orange never change — des chaussures marron, une veste orange. Full tables are in the study note.

Common mistakes

Drawn from real examiner reports.

Use avoir, not être, for hair and eyes

To describe hair and eyes, French uses avoir, the opposite of English "he is blue-eyed": il a les yeux bleus, NOT "il est les yeux bleus". Character takes être (elle est timide), which candidates also reverse (elle a timide). Keep them separate: avoir + noun for features, être + adjective for what you are.

Cited w22 41 Q2 Task 1: "il est les yeux bleus" for "il a les yeux bleus"; "elle a timide" for "elle est timide".

Agree the colour even when gender is known

Examiners flag candidates who know a noun's gender but still leave the adjective masculine — the two are not automatically linked: ✗ une chemise blanc → ✓ une chemise blanche; ✗ des baskets noir → ✓ des baskets noires (feminine plural). Agreement is named in the Accuracy checklist of nearly every Writing report — a repeated, mark-losing pattern.

Cited w22 42 Q3(a): candidates knew "photo" was feminine from the title yet still wrote masculine-agreeing adjectives elsewhere.

Colours go after the noun, not before

English puts the colour first ("a red dress"); French colours, like almost all descriptive adjectives, go after the noun: ✗ une rouge robe → ✓ une robe rouge; ✗ un bleu pantalon → ✓ un pantalon bleu. Only the small BAGS group (joli, jeune, bon, grand...) precedes the noun, and no colour is in it. Copying English word order for a colour is an accuracy error.

Plural clothing nouns take a plural verb

Several everyday clothing nouns are naturally plural and need a plural verb and plural agreement: les chaussures, les baskets, les lunettes, les gants. "les baskets est noir" is a subject–verb slip. Say les baskets sont noires — plural verb (sont) and feminine-plural adjective (noires) together.

pratique and veste are false-friend traps

Two clothes/shopping words trip candidates up. pratique means practical/convenient — candidates who don't know it use the English loanword "convenient", which scores nothing. une veste is a jacket, not a "vest" (that is un gilet). Also learn les vêtements de marque (branded clothing) — weaker candidates often don't know it.

Cited w22 42 Q2 Task 4: "pratique" not known, candidates used the English loanword "convenient"; s22 Speaking Topic 3: "vêtements de marque" not well known.

marron and orange never add agreement endings

It is a misconception that all colours behave like bleu/vert, adding -e for feminine and -s for plural. Two stay unchanged: marron and orange are invariable — des chaussures marron, never "marrons" or "marronne". Both come from nouns (the chestnut un marron, the fruit une orange), which French never inflects.

Cited Writing Accuracy boilerplate, all sittings: adjective agreement scoring-critical; marron/orange are the standard invariable-colour exception.

Exam tips

Fix the noun, then the verb, then agree
Build each sentence in order: (1) fix the noun and its article — its gender drives agreement; (2) choose the verb — porter for clothes, avoir for hair/eyes, être for character; (3) place the adjective after the noun; (4) agree it — une veste noire.
Check for marron and orange every time
Before finishing a colour phrase, check whether it is marron or orange — both are invariable and never take an ending, whatever the noun: des chaussures marron, une veste orange. Every other colour (bleu, vert, blanc...) agrees normally.
Extend a bare description for Range marks
In Speaking and Writing, do not stop at "il porte un jean". Add a colour and an opinion for higher Range: il porte un jean bleu, ce qui lui va très bien. Layering an agreeing colour, a connective and an opinion onto a plain noun turns a bare fact into a higher-band answer.

Revision notes