Les vêtements: Clothing Vocabulary
Learn ~30 essential clothing items and practise colour + clothing agreement.
Clothing vocabulary is essential for DELF A1 reading texts, shopping scenarios, and describing people. You already know colours from Fondations; now combine them with clothing using the adjective agreement rules from the Les adjectifs (Agreement & Position) lesson.
COLOUR AGREEMENT WITH CLOTHING: colour adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun
MASCULINE ITEMS: le manteau (the coat), le pantalon (the trousers), le pull (the jumper)
FEMININE ITEMS: la robe (the dress), la jupe (the skirt), la chemise (the shirt), la veste (the jacket), la chaussure (the shoe), la chaussette (the sock), la cravate (the tie), la ceinture (the belt)
AGREEMENT EXAMPLES: un pull rouge (a red jumper) (masc. sg). une robe rouge (a red dress) (fem. sg, rouge already ends in E, no change). un manteau gris (a grey coat) (masc. sg). une veste grise (a grey jacket) (fem. sg, E added, S sound appears). des pantalons noirs (black trousers) (masc. pl). des chaussures noires (black shoes) (fem. pl)
INVARIABLE COLOURS: see the Les adjectifs (Agreement & Position) lesson's TRULY INVARIABLE vs NO-GENDER-BUT-PLURAL-S list for the full picture. Compound colour descriptions are also invariable: bleu foncé (dark blue), vert clair (light green): see that same lesson's COMPOUND COLORS rule for more
PORTER: porter (to wear) = to have on (state): Elle porte une robe rouge (she is wearing a red dress).
- Il porte un pull rouge et un pantalon noir. — He is wearing a red jumper and black trousers.
- Elle a une robe verte et des chaussures blanches. — She has a green dress and white shoes.
- Je cherche une veste grise ou un manteau beige. — I am looking for a grey jacket or a beige coat.
- Ils portent des uniformes bleus. — They are wearing blue uniforms.