Pascal: Bonjour! Today we're learning to paint a picture with words. Can you describe someone well enough that a French person would recognise them in a crowd? "She has long brown hair and green eyes." "He's tall with a beard." These are everyday phrases — describing people to friends, reading character descriptions in books, or helping someone find you at the airport!

🎯 Today's Mission

Describe height and build using être.
Describe hair and eye colour using avoir.
Master word order for appearance adjectives.
Combine both verbs into full, natural descriptions.

Document Déclencheur

Annonce, recherche de personne disparue: Elle est grande et mince. Elle a les cheveux longs et bruns. Elle a les yeux verts. Elle est jeune, environ 25 ans.

Qu'est-ce que tu remarques ?

"Elle est grande" mais "Elle a les cheveux longs" — pourquoi deux verbes différents ? → être pour la taille/carrure, avoir pour les cheveux et les yeux
"les cheveux longs et bruns" — pourquoi "les" et pas "ses" ? → en français, on utilise l'article défini (les) pour les parties du corps avec avoir, pas le possessif comme en anglais
Où sont placés "longs" et "bruns" par rapport à "cheveux" ? → après le nom, comme la plupart des adjectifs en français

Section 1: La Taille et la Carrure — Height and Build

Pascal: In French, most appearance adjectives come AFTER the noun — unlike English. Les cheveux blonds, not "blond hair." Think of it as describing what you see first: the thing itself, then the detail. It's actually quite logical once you get used to it!

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Examples with être:

Mon frère est grand. — My brother is tall.
Ma cousine est petite et mince. — My cousin is short and slim.
Il est fort, mais il n'est pas gros. — He's stocky, but he's not fat.
Nous sommes tous minces dans ma famille. — We're all slim in my family.

Pascal's Tip: Height and build describe what someone is — that's why we use être here, just like in English ("he IS tall").

Which verb do you use to say someone is tall?

Section 2: Les Cheveux — Hair

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Note: cheveux is always plural in French. You say les cheveux, never le cheveu, to describe hair in general.

Examples with avoir:

J'ai les cheveux bruns et bouclés. — I have brown, curly hair.
Elle a les cheveux longs et raides. — She has long, straight hair.
Mon grand-père n'a plus de cheveux — il est chauve. — My grandfather has no more hair — he's bald.
Tu as les cheveux roux, comme ta mère. — You have red hair, like your mother.

Mini-dialogue:

Léa : Ton frère, il a les cheveux comment ? Your brother, what's his hair like? Marc : Il a les cheveux courts et bruns. Et il est chauve maintenant, un peu ! He has short brown hair. And he's a bit bald now!

How do you say 'She has long hair' in French?

What is the correct plural word for 'hair' in French?

Section 3: Les Yeux — Eyes

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Yeux is the irregular plural of œil (eye) — always use les yeux when describing eye colour, never les œils.

Marron is an exception: it never changes to agree with gender or number. Always marron, never marrons — because it comes from the noun "chestnut," and colour words derived from objects don't agree.

J'ai les yeux verts et ma sœur a les yeux marron. — I have green eyes and my sister has brown eyes.
Il a les yeux bleus, comme son père. — He has blue eyes, like his father.
Elles ont toutes les yeux noisette dans cette famille. — They all have hazel eyes in this family.

Pascal's Tip: A great way to remember marron never changes — think of chestnuts (marrons) themselves: they don't multiply or change shape just because you're describing more of them!

Which is the correct plural form of 'eye' used for describing eye colour?

Which colour word NEVER changes for gender or number?

Section 4: Other Useful Descriptors

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Il a une barbe et une moustache. — He has a beard and a moustache.
Elle porte des lunettes. — She wears glasses.
Mon oncle est âgé mais il est encore beau! — My uncle is elderly but he's still handsome!
Ma nièce est très jeune — elle a trois ans. — My niece is very young — she's three years old.

Section 5: Describing Someone — Full Sentences

Use the structure: Il/Elle est + [height/build] + avec + les cheveux [colour] + et les yeux [colour].

Mon père est grand avec les cheveux gris et les yeux bleus. — My father is tall with grey hair and blue eyes.
Ma sœur est petite et mince avec les cheveux noirs et bouclés. — My sister is short and slim with black curly hair.
Il est chauve et il porte des lunettes. — He is bald and he wears glasses.
Elle est grande, mince, avec les cheveux longs et les yeux verts. — She is tall, slim, with long hair and green eyes.

Pascal's Tip: Remember: "Il est grand" (He is tall) uses ÊTRE, but "Il a les yeux verts" (He has green eyes) uses AVOIR. Height and build → ÊTRE. Features like eyes and hair → AVOIR. Two different verbs for two different types of description!

Common Mistakes

❌ Il est les cheveux bruns. → ✅ Il a les cheveux bruns. — Hair and eye colour always take avoir, never être.
❌ Elle a grande. → ✅ Elle est grande. — Height/build adjectives always take être, never avoir.
❌ des yeux marrons → ✅ des yeux marron — marron is invariable; don't add an -s.
❌ un cheveu blond (to mean "blond hair" generally) → ✅ les cheveux blonds — use the plural for describing someone's hair overall.

Complete: 'Mon père ___ grand avec ___ yeux bleus.'

Which sentence correctly describes a bald man wearing glasses?

Recap

Use être for height and build: Elle est grande / mince / forte.
Use avoir for hair and eyes: Elle a les cheveux blonds / les yeux verts.
Most adjectives follow the noun in French: les cheveux courts, not courts cheveux.
Marron never agrees with gender or number.
Combine both verbs for a full description: Il est grand avec les cheveux bruns.

✨ Coming Up Next...

Pascal: Tomorrow we tackle one of the two most essential verbs in French: AVOIR (to have). You've already used it a little today — now we'll master every form and its many surprising uses, from age to hunger to luck. À demain!