Sound patterns, revisited
Read the list as a Unit 1 test: oi in noir (nwahr), an in blanc (blah(n)), soft g in rouge (roozh), silent endings on vert and gris. If each respelling feels predictable, the sound key has done its work.
The colors
Eleven colors from rouge to gris, with respellings tuned to the sound patterns you learned in Unit 1 — blanc ends in a nasal, rouge uses the zh sound, jaune the oh. Colors are adjectives, so this set feeds directly into the next lesson on word order.
The words
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| rouge | red | roozh |
| bleu | blue | bluh |
| vert | green | vehr |
| jaune | yellow | zhohn |
| noir | black | nwahr |
| blanc | white | blah(n) |
| rose | pink | rohz |
| orange | orange | oh-RAH(n)ZH |
| violet | purple | vee-oh-LEH |
| gris | gray | gree |
| marron | brown | mah-ROH(n) |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
Do it now — on paper
- Name the color of six things around you, French word only.
- Say the colors of a traffic light, your front door and the sky today.
- Write the eleven colors from memory; double-check blanc, jaune, violet.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
New lessons and French workbook news, first
One email when the numbers change. Double opt-in, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.