Ombre (n) / ombré (adj)

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Ombre (n) / ombré (adj)

Hi, in “Et pour le maquillage, j'ai opté pour un ombré bleu nuit” should it be ombre instead of ombré? The reason I think this is that ombre seems to be a noun, whereas ombré is an adjective. 

Asked 2 years ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Brian,

Here "ombré" is a noun as it is preceded by "un". In this specific context, i.e. make-up, "un ombré" is an eyeshadow although usually you will hear "une ombre à paupières".

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Céline, Not sure how putting an article in front of an adjectival past participle of the verb ‘ombrer’, can convert it to a noun ? “Une ombre … “ is correct and still current as far as I can find. I haven’t found any French language source (and not Canadian French either) using ‘ombré’ as a noun as suggested here. Maybe Aurelie could clarify its source ? 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I was actually parsing it as an adjective: un ombré bleu-nuit -- a dark midnight blue. Aurélie gives un ombré as one of the words to look up before the exercise. I tried to look for it, too, and couldn't find it. What I did find was fard au paupieèrs or ombre au pauièrs. I suspect that the accent in ombré slipped in accidentally.

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Thought of, and noticed, that too Chris, but it should also be 'une ombre', as 'un ombre' is quite a different thing that I doubt would be placed near the eyes ! If it was meant to adjectival, 'un bleu-nuit ombré' would probably be better.

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Agreed on both counts, but the adjectival parsing was the only one that made some sort of sense to me. 

Aurélie gives "un ombré" (masculin) in the vocab list. Maybe she can comment on this when she reads this discussion.

Ombre (n) / ombré (adj)

Hi, in “Et pour le maquillage, j'ai opté pour un ombré bleu nuit” should it be ombre instead of ombré? The reason I think this is that ombre seems to be a noun, whereas ombré is an adjective. 

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Let me take a look at that...