47 Comments
Why not « claire » if « jupe » is feminine? (Sorry if i ask a lot of question)
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."
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@Ripcurlgirl
I thought is was because most colours are masculine and the adjectives were describing the colours (for example dark red boots is saying the red is dark, and the boots are red, not the boots are dark and red, though technically they mean the same thing). I could be wrong though, I'll have to search it up.
When used as an adjective (as in "elle porte une jupe rose clair"), the color word is an adjective and it does not have a gender by itself. As it happens, the color "rose" (FR) is invariable in regard to gender anyway and when used as a compound color term (light pink = rose clair), there is no agreement at all with the noun to which it refers. If you use the color as a noun, then it has a gender, e.g., Some little girls love to wear pink = Certaines petites filles aiment porter du rose. (WordReference)
I was a little confused as well but I think that "rose"(pink) and 'clair' (light) stay the same because they are two adjectives describing one word and apparently when other feminine nouns are being described by two adjectives, they stay masculine like the examples that 'Ripcurlgirl' gave above, "bleu clair" and "brun foncé"!
Correct.
Dual adjectives that designate a single colour always remain masculine and singular regardless of noun gender or plurality.
BTW, rose (the colour pink) is an invariable noun when it comes to gender but it does take the plural when used alone e.g. Les chaussures roses → The pink shoes.
This 2nd comment is clearer than your earlier one.
If I may re-state:
"The default is masculine singular for two or more adjectives used to describe a noun, regardless of the gender of the noun."
The last portion of this your 2nd comment is also duly noted:
A single adjective used with a noun, must agree with it in gender and number
Just saw the answer on another thread. Compound colours (i.e. using more than one word) use masculine singular by default. So it will always be "rose clair" regardless of the gender or number.
I made the same mistake. It seems as "rose clair" is regarded as concept of colour which is without gender
I'm no expert but some other comments were saying that if there are two adjectives together (rose, clare) then neither are modified, but remain in the singular masculine form
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Ok, I say it is light green pants and it "should' be pale green, so then I say pale pink skirt and am told it "should" be "light" green. this is not consistent, either should be correct.
Pay attention to the defining adjective, eg foncé (dark), pâle (pale), clair (light) etc.
In this sentence, the colour is "rose clair". The clair tells us the depth of the shade is "light" while rose is the shade pink. Therefore the colour is "light pink".
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While "light pink skirt" makes more sense, I just learned clair=clear. So I answered "She is wearing a clear pink skirt" and it was marked wrong. Can clair can mean both light and clear? How do you know when it means one or the other, and if both are correct, "clear" should not be marked wrong?
Clair(e) can mean light/bright, clear, transparent, or be a quality of clarity, such as "a clear explanation" → une explication claire. Whenever it is used in unison with another adjective to designate a single colour it always in the masculine singular - clair - and always means "light".
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So it's a "false friend"?. One would expect it to be clear pink which is different from light pink.
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I am coming back to redo the lesson in order to make it golden again. This exercise is new to me with compound adjectives for colors. I did not know this and now have learned it.
Thank you duo staffs and volunteers for your efforts!
Hello! I'm assuming that because the translation of "rose" from French to English is "pink", it probably thinks that you're using the French word "rose", instead of how "rose" can also mean "pink" in English, and it is expecting you to use "pink" when translating. If that makes sense?
If I'm wrong, someone please correct me :) Thanks!
"pale" and "light" in reference to "pink" mean the same in English. what is the difference in French?
Just going to say, as a practical matter, distinguishing between "pale pink" and "light pink" is a distinction without a difference.
I thought it would be claire because of la jupe. Does the clair only refer to 'rose'. Are all colours masculine?
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Are these all acceptable translations: light pink pale pink light rose pale rose Just trying to clarify (haha!)
I wrote pale pink and it was marked wrong, so I'm also interested in the answer to this question.
Actually, in an earlier color lesson I was marked wrong for using pink; the correction was rose! rose = rose in that lesson.
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Depends on what the lesson is about. If 'rose' is used in the context of colours, it is always pink. Perhaps your lesson was talking about the plant rose?
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yep, she always wears a pink skirt on Saturdays but she's wearing it now too!
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Es de risa como hay palabras son correctas en unos ejercicios y en otros del mismo contexto son incorrectas...
Hi there! I was wondering why during word matches, it pairs "clair" with "obvious", but in sentences like "Elle porte a une jupe rose clair", it means "light"? Am I missing something? Thanks in advance!
