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L'enfant a les joues rouges.

L'enfant a les joues rouges.
The child has red cheeks.
From Lesson 215:The body and appearance·French

Breakdown of L'enfant a les joues rouges.

l'enfant
the child
avoir
to have
rouge
red
la joue
the cheek

Questions & Answers about L'enfant a les joues rouges.

Why does the sentence use les joues instead of ses joues?
When talking about body parts, French usually uses the definite article (le, la, les) rather than possessive words like ses (his/her). Because the subject is L'enfant, it is already clear whose cheeks are red.
Why is the color rouges placed after the noun?
Adjectives that describe color always come directly after the noun they modify in French.
Does the gender of joue change how rouge is spelled?
The word joue is feminine (une joue), but because the color rouge already ends in an 'e' in its base masculine form, it does not get an extra 'e' for feminine nouns. It only adds an 's' here because joues is plural.
Does L'enfant mean this is a boy?
Not necessarily. The noun enfant is masculine by default, but it is commonly used to refer to any child, regardless of gender. You will occasionally see une enfant used specifically for a girl, but the masculine form is the standard general term.

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