Одежда и цвета

Clothes and colours

Повседневная одежда, обувь и цвета, глаголы wear, put on и try on, а также названия одежды, которые всегда во множественном числе.

When you need it

You talk about clothes when you shop, when you describe what someone looks like, when you pack for a trip, and when you decide what to wear for school or an interview. Colours come with them, and with almost everything else you describe. The grammar is light, but a few plural words and three similar verbs cause most of the errors.

Core words

Word	Note	Example
clothes	always plural; /kləʊðz/, often said /kləʊz/	Your clothes are on the bed.
shirt, T-shirt	a shirt has buttons and a collar	He wears a white shirt to work.
jumper, sweater	jumper is British; sweater is used everywhere	Take a jumper, it's cold.
trousers	British; in American English pants, which in Britain means underwear	These trousers are too long.
jeans, shorts	always plural, like trousers	I'm wearing jeans today.
skirt, dress	a dress covers the top and the legs	Anna is wearing a green dress.
suit	a jacket and trousers or a skirt of the same cloth	He wore a dark suit.

Word	Note	Example
coat, jacket	a coat is longer and warmer	Put your coat on.
hat, scarf	plural scarves	I lost my hat and scarf.
glove	usually plural: a pair of gloves	Where are my gloves?
shoe, boots	a pair of shoes; boots cover the ankle	These shoes are new.
sock	usually plural	I need clean socks.

Sports shoes are trainers in Britain and sneakers in America. Shoes, boots, socks and gloves come in pairs, so you usually talk about them in the plural and count them with a pair of: a pair of boots, three pairs of socks.

Word	Note	Example
colour	American spelling color	What colour is your car?
red, blue, green, yellow	basic colours	The door is blue.
black, white, grey	American spelling gray	a black coat and grey trousers
brown, pink, orange, purple	orange is also the fruit	She has brown eyes.
light, dark	before a colour: light blue, dark green	I want the dark blue one.

Colour adjectives go before the noun (a red dress) and never take a plural ending (red shoes, not reds shoes). To ask about colour, say What colour is it? rather than Which colour has it?

Word	Note	Example
wear	have clothes on your body; past wore	She always wears black.
put on	the action of dressing	Put on your shoes.
take off	the opposite of put on	Take off your coat.
try on	put on in a shop to check the size	Can I try these on?
fit	be the right size	The jeans don't fit.

Useful phrases

What are you wearing? — I'm wearing jeans and a black jumper. Use the continuous for what someone has on now.
Put your coat on. / Put it on. — With a pronoun, it goes between the verb and on.
Can I try this on? — Of course, the changing rooms are over there.
These shoes don't fit. — They're too small.
That colour really suits you. — It looks good on you.
a pair of jeans, a pair of trousers, two pairs of socks: the normal way to count plural clothes.
What size are you? — Small, or a number such as 38.
get dressed, get undressed: I got dressed quickly.
light blue, dark green, bright red: these words make a colour more exact.
It's too big / too small / too tight. — The usual ways to say that something does not fit.

Common mistakes

✗ My trousers is too long. I bought a new jeans.
✓ My trousers are too long. I bought some new jeans. I bought a new pair of jeans.
Штани / брюки and джинси / джинсы are plural in Ukrainian and Russian too, so the verb is familiar, but English cannot put a before them; count them with a pair of.
✗ I put on a suit to work every day.
✓ I wear a suit to work every day.
Wear is Ukrainian носити and Russian носить, the state of having clothes on; put on is надягати / надевать, the moment of dressing.
✗ Dress your coat, it's cold.
✓ Put on your coat, it's cold.
English dress takes a person as its object (she dressed the baby), never a piece of clothing.
✗ He wore a black costume to the interview.
✓ He wore a black suit to the interview.
Ukrainian костюм and Russian костюм are false friends: an English costume is what you wear to play a role, on stage or at a party.
✗ Your clothes is dirty. I need a new clothes.
✓ Your clothes are dirty. I need some new clothes.
Одяг / одежда is singular, but English clothes is always plural and has no singular form; for one item, name it or say a piece of clothing.

Try it

It's cold. ___ your coat on.
Anna is ___ a red dress today. (wear)
Can I ___ these jeans on?
My new trousers ___ too short. (be)
He wore a dark ___ and tie to the interview. (costume / suit)
These shoes don't ___. They're too big.

Связанные уроки