Porter or mettre: wearing clothes and putting them on in French
Describe what you wear with porter and what you put on with mettre. Learn the present forms, clothing pronouns and useful examples with picture cards.
In short
Porter describes wearing clothes: Elle porte une veste. Mettre describes putting them on: Elle met sa veste. For a planned outfit, Qu’est-ce que tu mets ce soir ? also means “What are you wearing tonight?”
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
What is the difference between porter and mettre?
mettreto put on
Focus: getting dressed or choosing an outfit
Il fait froid. Je mets mon manteau.
It’s cold. I’m putting on my coat.
Ce soir, je mets une robe noire.
Tonight, I’m wearing a black dress.
porterto wear
Focus: what is on your body, now or usually
Dans la rue, je porte mon manteau.
In the street, I’m wearing my coat.
Je porte souvent des baskets.
I often wear trainers.
Choose the clothes for your sentence
Find:
| Subject | porter | mettre |
|---|---|---|
| je | porte | mets |
| tu | portes | mets |
| il / elle / on | porte | met |
| nous | portons | mettons |
| vous | portez | mettez |
| ils / elles | portent | mettent |
Two instructions you can use today
Mets ton manteau, il fait froid !
Put your coat on, it’s cold!
To one person you call tu, use mets with its final -s.
Mettez vos chaussures, nous partons.
Put your shoes on, we’re leaving.
Use mettez when addressing a group or someone you call vous.
| Item | Wearing it | Putting it on |
|---|---|---|
| le manteau | Je le porte. | Je le mets. |
| la veste | Je la porte. | Je la mets. |
| les chaussures | Je les porte. | Je les mets. |
Choose the pronoun from the clothing noun’s gender and number: la refers to la veste, whoever wears it. For getting dressed as a whole, say Je m’habille. For taking off one item, use enlever: J’enlève ma veste. Clothes take a direct object with both target verbs: porter une chemise, mettre une chemise.
Je porte mon sac jusqu’à la voiture, puis je le mets sur le siège.
I carry my bag to the car, then put it on the seat.
With a bag, porter can mean carry and mettre can mean put somewhere. The destination sur le siège makes placement clear.