"This dress is light blue."
Translation:Cette robe est bleu clair.
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Why is it not 'bleue' clair? Does the addition of light/clair nullify the need to use the feminine form of 'bleu' ?
Yes. When you use more than one adjective to designate a single color (like "light blue," "dark green," "pale pink" etc.), neither of the adjectives changes according to the noun it modifies. For example:
Il a les yeux bleu clair et les cheveux brun foncé.
"He has light blue eyes and dark brown hair."
Is what you're saying, then, is that the default form for any adjectives (when more than one) is the masculine form?
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Here is another example of the same sentence only with an added cliché. Cette robe est bleue. Non, cette robe est bleu-clair! Oui? D'accord? Bien noté?
What's the reason for not choosing "pâle" instead of "clair"? Is there any special occasion for using these two words?
"Bleu pâle" is also used with nearly the same frequency as "bleu clair" though the latter has a slight edge. So we won't be quibbling about the difference between clair vs. pâle or pale vs. light here. Source: Google Ngram Viewer.
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What about:"Cette robe est bleue claire". Robe is feminine, so should the adjectives. Why "bleue claire" is incorrect.
Because when you use more than one adjective to designate a single color (like "light blue," "dark green," "pale pink" etc.), neither of the adjectives changes according to the noun it modifies.
why was "Cette robe-ci est bleu clair" marked as wrong ?
I've answered other questions during this lesson using the distinguishers -ci (here; making ce "this") and -la (there; making ce "that")
I suspect it'll probably be added.
There are important register distinctions: http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/this_that_in_french_ci_la.shtml
And it might be worth nothing that in practice adding the "-ci" constitutes but the slightest glimmer in usage: http://bit.ly/2KL7zXd (with "-là" only a bit more common).
I am more interested in the many variations of "this." There are many different ways to say it, so why is "cette" appropriate in this sentence?
There is no "ça robe". "Ça" is a pronoun -- not an adjective -- and it cannot be used in the way you indicate.
French has a standard order of words. In English, it's "light blue" (not "blue light"). In French, it's "bleu clair" (not "clair bleu").
Ce/cet = masculine, use "cet" when the word starts with a vowel.
Cette = feminine
That's "light" as in "not heavy", so you'd be saying "the blue of the dress doesn't weigh much".
Well if you read the various posts already in this thread, such as those by n6zs you will see that when compound colour terms are used it doesn't agree with the noun. Try reading first, then ask a question if it isn't already answered.
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Good point and we need to be patient similarly as our highly sought after DUO MOD contributors have done multiple times. This quote may be of interest to you when encountering future duplicate posts like SyedMuh… in another discussion thread Sitesurf responded this way....."because there are many you can't see full threads from your platform, I would advise you use a PC and reserve your phone or tablet for practice." Syed, who I am certain will not read our comments either, could use this response too if you reply directly. Its hard to imagine that a person can comment but not read all the comments. Not even the original comments. At the very beginning of this discussion thread Ripcurlgirl spelled it out quite clearly and n6zs confirmed it for the doubting.