Clothes in French: names, gender and phrases for the shop

Clothes in French are les vêtements, and each garment has a gender that decides the little word in front of it. This page gives the common words with le or la, the verbs for wearing and putting on, and a few phrases for the fitting room. For how the little words work, read French articles and gender. For colour words to describe what you are wearing, see Colours in French, and for the coat-or-no-coat decision, Weather and seasons in French.

Sources: Larousse’s French dictionary and the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). No page shows a date modified, so each is dated by the day we opened it.

What is the word for clothes in French?

The word for clothes in French is vêtements, the plural of un vêtement, a masculine noun [1]. Say mes vêtements for “my clothes”. The singular vêtement means one item of clothing.

What are clothing words in French, with their gender?

Clothing in French is easier to remember when you learn each word with its article. The table gives the Larousse gender for each word [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9].

The gender belongs to the word, not to the person wearing it. Larousse calls a skirt “generally” a woman’s garment, and the noun is feminine whoever wears it [5].

What is a coat in French?

A coat in French is un manteau, plural des manteaux [3]. Larousse’s junior dictionary defines it as a long garment with long sleeves, closed at the front, worn outside against the cold [3]. If you search “coat in french language”, this is the word. A veste covers the chest down to the hips [9].

What are shorts and pants in French?

Shorts in French is un short: one word, masculine and singular. Larousse describes it as a very short pair of trousers for sport or holiday wear [4]. If you search “french for shorts”, the answer is the same word, borrowed from English.

Pants are un pantalon. Larousse translates mon pantalon as “my trousers” and deux pantalons as “two pairs of trousers” [2]. So one pair is singular, and a plural only appears when you count several pairs.

What is a dress, a shirt or a skirt in French?

A dress in French is une robe, a feminine noun for a garment made of a bodice and a skirt in one piece [6]. A shirt is une chemise [7]. A skirt is une jupe [5].

How do you say “to wear” in French?

To wear is porter: Larousse defines it as having a garment or accessory on you and gives elle portait une jupe bleue [10]. It also lists mettre and revêtir as synonyms in that sense [10].

Mettre is the verb for putting something on: Larousse gives quelle robe mets-tu demain ? and, with the pronominal form, se mettre en robe, en pantalon for dressing in a given way [11]. The same entry lists enfiler as a synonym for putting a garment on [11].

What do you say when you shop for clothes in French?

Three words cover most of the fitting room. Essayer is to put on a garment or shoes to see if they fit [12]. La taille is the size: Larousse’s example is cette veste est à votre taille, and for shoes the size is la pointure [13]. For shoes, the verb is chausser: je chausse du 38 means “I take a size 38” [14].

Short phrases built on those words:

• Je voudrais essayer ce manteau. I would like to try on this coat.
• Quelle est votre taille ? What is your size?
• Quelle pointure faites-vous ? What shoe size are you?
• Cette robe est à ma taille. This dress is my size.

Try five questions on the page so far.

Which clothing words differ in Québec?

A few clothing words are used differently in Québec. They are an aside: the words above work everywhere.

Common mistakes

• Saying “ma pantalon” or “mes shorts” as one item. Both pantalon and short are masculine singular for one pair [2][4].
• Pluralizing manteau with an s. The plural is manteaux [3].
• Using porter when you mean the act of putting on. For getting dressed, reach for mettre or enfiler; Larousse also lists mettre as a synonym of porter for having something on [10][11].
• Relying on a word list from a blog, including this one. Dictionaries are revised. Compare the entry’s own date, where it shows one, with the date at the top of this page.

See also: body parts in French.

Sources