Pour la balade du dimanche, Marie porte une jupe légère et un chapeau bleu.

For the Sunday walk, Marie wears a light skirt and a blue hat.

Breakdown of Pour la balade du dimanche, Marie porte une jupe légère et un chapeau bleu.

• Marie: Marie
• et: and
• pour: for
• porter: to wear
• bleu: blue
• léger: light
• du: of the
• le dimanche: the Sunday
• la balade: the walk
• la jupe: the skirt
• le chapeau: the hat

Questions & Answers about Pour la balade du dimanche, Marie porte une jupe légère et un chapeau bleu.

What nuance does pour have here? Does it mean for, during, or on in this sentence?

In this sentence, pour la balade du dimanche is best understood as for the Sunday walk.

• pour + noun often means intended for / in preparation for:
  • pour la soirée = for the party / for tonight
  • pour l’hiver = for winter

So pour la balade du dimanche implies “for the (usual/particular) Sunday walk”, i.e. what she chooses to wear on that occasion. It’s more about purpose than simple time (“during”) or calendar day (“on Sunday”).

What is the difference between balade and promenade?

Both can mean a walk.

• une balade

  • More informal, everyday word.
  • Often suggests a casual, pleasant walk or outing.
  • Common in speech.

• une promenade

  • Slightly more formal or neutral.
  • Can sound a bit more “proper” or old‑fashioned in some contexts.

Here, la balade du dimanche feels like a relaxed, habitual Sunday walk/outing. You could say la promenade du dimanche, but balade sounds more colloquial and friendly.

Why do we say la balade du dimanche and not la balade de dimanche?

du is the contraction of de + le, so:

• la balade du dimanche = the walk of the Sunday → “the Sunday walk”

This structure (NOUN + de + le + day) is often used like a label for a regular or characteristic activity:

• le repas du midi = the midday meal / lunch
• le match du samedi = the Saturday match

de dimanche by itself would be unusual here; it would sound incomplete or off. The fixed expression la balade du dimanche naturally means the (habitual) Sunday walk.

What is the difference between porter and mettre when talking about clothes?

Both relate to clothing but are not interchangeable:

• porter = to wear / to carry

  • Describes the state of having something on.
  • Marie porte une jupe légère. = Marie is wearing a light skirt.

• mettre = to put on (clothes, shoes, etc.)

  • Describes the action of putting something on.
  • Marie met une jupe légère. = Marie puts on / is putting on a light skirt.

In this sentence, we are describing what she wears for the walk, so porte is correct.

Why is it une jupe légère but un chapeau bleu? How do gender and adjective agreement work here?

French nouns have grammatical gender:

• une jupe → feminine singular
• un chapeau → masculine singular

Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender and number:

• léger (light)
  
  • masculine singular: léger
  • feminine singular: légère
• bleu (blue)
  
  • masculine singular: bleu
  • feminine singular: bleue

So:

• une jupe légère → jupe is feminine, so légère (with -e)
• un chapeau bleu → chapeau is masculine, so bleu (no extra -e)

If there were two skirts: deux jupes légères (feminine plural: add -s to the adjective).

Why is the adjective légère placed after jupe? Could it come before the noun?

Most French adjectives go after the noun:

• une jupe légère (a light skirt)
• un chapeau bleu (a blue hat)

Some common categories (often called BANGS: beauty, age, number, goodness, size) normally go before the noun (e.g. petit, grand, beau, vieux).

Léger / légère is usually placed after the noun.
You can sometimes put it before (une légère jupe), but that changes the nuance: it becomes more literary or stylistic, and can shift the focus or sound slightly poetic. The neutral, everyday choice is une jupe légère.

Why is it un chapeau bleu and not un chapeau bleue?

Because chapeau is masculine singular, and color adjectives generally agree with the noun:

• Masculine singular: bleu
• Feminine singular: bleue
• Masculine plural: bleus
• Feminine plural: bleues

So:

• un chapeau bleu (masc. sing.)
• une jupe bleue (fem. sing.)
• des chapeaux bleus (masc. plural)
• des jupes bleues (fem. plural)

In the sentence, chapeau is masculine singular, so the correct form is bleu.

Can we say une légère jupe et un bleu chapeau instead of une jupe légère et un chapeau bleu?

No, not in normal French.

• une légère jupe is possible but sounds marked/literary, not neutral everyday speech.
• un bleu chapeau is almost always wrong: color adjectives almost always go after the noun, so you need un chapeau bleu.

The natural, correct order for standard French is:

• une jupe légère et un chapeau bleu

Why is there a definite article la in pour la balade du dimanche? Could we omit it?

You cannot omit it here. French usually requires an article where English might not.

• pour la balade du dimanche = for the Sunday walk
  
  • la goes with balade (“the walk”).
  • du = de + le (of the) goes with dimanche (“of the Sunday”).

Leaving out the article, as in pour balade du dimanche, would be incorrect. In French, common countable nouns (like balade, robe, chapeau, voiture) almost always need an article (un, une, le, la, les, des) or another determiner.

What exactly does du mean in la balade du dimanche?

du is a contraction of:

• de + le → du

So literally:

• la balade du dimanche = la balade de le dimanche → the walk of the Sunday

In natural English, this becomes the Sunday walk. This de + le structure is very common for forming something like a “title” or characteristic description:

• la réunion du matin = the morning meeting
• la classe du vendredi = the Friday class

In each case du = of the.