j'ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron
The phrase "I have brown hair and brown eyes" is translated into French as j'ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron.
This sentence is used to describe your own physical appearance, specifically referring to your hair and eye color.
Which one should you use?
In French, different words are used for brown hair versus brown eyes. The term brun is used for hair, whereas marron is the standard term used to describe brown eyes.
How does it change in a sentence?
When describing hair, the adjective bruns agrees in gender and number with the noun cheveux. However, the adjective marron is invariable and does not take an 's' to agree with the plural noun yeux.
Did you know?
- The word marron is a linguistic traveler that entered French via Italian and originally came from a West Indies creole influenced by the Spanish word cimarrón.
- French uses the definite article les rather than a possessive like 'my' because the context of the sentence makes the ownership obvious.
- While brun and marron both mean 'brown', using brun to describe eyes suggests a dark, almost blackish shade rather than a typical warm brown.
Examples in context
- J'ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron.I have brown hair and brown eyes.
- En photo, j'ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron.In the photo, I have brown hair and brown eyes.
- Pour mon portrait, je dis que j'ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron.For my portrait, I say that I have brown hair and brown eyes.
Example conversation
Two friends are describing themselves for a class project.
- LéaEt toi, Lucas, comment es-tu ?And you, Lucas, what do you look like?
- LucasJ'ai les cheveux noirs et les yeux bleus.I have black hair and blue eyes.
- LéaMoi, j'ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux marron.Me, I have brown hair and brown eyes.
- LucasC'est une très jolie combinaison.That is a very pretty combination.
