Colours in Spanish: list, agreement and classroom use

The colours in Spanish

The pronunciation column uses English sounds, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The last column shows the other forms: feminine, then plural.

Other useful shades: turquesa (turquoise), lila (lilac), fucsia (fuchsia), beis or beige (beige), granate (maroon), azul marino (navy blue).

Three sounds need attention. The j of rojo and naranja is the throaty h of Scottish “loch”. The ll of amarillo is a y for most speakers, and closer to “sh” in Argentina and Uruguay. The v of verde and violeta is a b. The rr of marrón is rolled.

Regional words

• Brown: marrón in Spain; café is the usual word in Mexico, Central America and several other countries. For hair and eyes, castaño is used everywhere.
• Pink: rosa in Spain; rosado is very common in Latin America.
• Orange: naranja everywhere, with anaranjado also common in parts of Latin America.
• Light blue: celeste is the everyday word in much of Latin America, and the colour of Argentina’s flag. Spain tends to say azul claro or azul celeste.

None of these should be marked wrong: accept the variant a pupil has learnt, and point out the one you use.

Agreement: rojo, roja, rojos, rojas

1. Colours ending in -o have four forms. un bolígrafo rojo, una regla roja, unos zapatos rojos, unas botas rojas.
2. Colours ending in -e or a consonant have two. Singular and plural only: una camiseta verde, unos ojos azules, unos pantalones grises, unas botas marrones. Note that marrones loses its written accent.
3. Colours that are also nouns do not change for gender. Naranja (an orange), rosa (a rose), violeta, lila, turquesa, fucsia: un jersey naranja, una falda rosa. In the plural, both camisetas naranja and camisetas naranjas are accepted.
4. “Colour” + noun never changes. unas camisetas color naranja, unos calcetines de color rosa. A safe option for pupils who are unsure.
5. Light and dark: the whole phrase stays masculine singular. una falda azul claro, unos ojos verde oscuro, unas camisas azul marino. The same goes for rojo vivo (bright red) or verde botella (bottle green).

Where the colour goes

1. After the noun. un coche blanco, la Casa Blanca (the White House). “Blanco coche” is wrong in everyday Spanish; before the noun, colours only appear in poetry and set phrases.
2. Colours as nouns are masculine. el rojo, el verde: Mi color favorito es el azul. Color itself is masculine too: el color, not “la color”.
3. Asking about colours. ¿De qué color es tu mochila? Es negra. In the plural: ¿De qué color son tus zapatillas? Son blancas.

Tengo una mochila azul y un estuche rojo.I’ve got a blue bag and a red pencil case.

La bandera de España es roja y amarilla.The flag of Spain is red and yellow.

Mi hermana tiene los ojos verdes y el pelo castaño.My sister has green eyes and brown hair.

Llevo unas zapatillas azul oscuro.I’m wearing dark blue trainers.

Hair and eyes

For descriptions, a GCSE favourite, Spanish often uses its own words. Hair is rubio (blond), castaño (brown), negro, pelirrojo (red: soy pelirroja, I’ve got red hair), canoso or gris (grey). Moreno means dark-haired, and also tanned or dark-skinned. Eyes are azules, verdes, grises, marrones (Spain), cafés (Mexico and elsewhere) or castaños.

Idioms with colours

• ponerse rojo: to go red, to blush
• estar verde: to be unripe; to be a beginner (Estoy verde en química.)
• quedarse en blanco: for your mind to go blank (in an exam, for instance)
• pasar la noche en blanco: to have a sleepless night
• verlo todo de color de rosa: to see everything through rose-tinted glasses
• estar en números rojos: to be in the red
• el príncipe azul: Prince Charming
• la prensa rosa: celebrity gossip magazines; la novela negra: crime fiction
• ponerse morado: to stuff yourself with food (Spain, informal)

Two idioms to know before a pupil finds them: un chiste verde is a dirty joke, and poner verde a alguien means to badmouth someone (Spain, informal).

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Colour before the noun: “un rojo coche”, copied from English word order.
• No agreement: “una casa blanco”, “las camisetas rojo”.
• “Naranjo” for a feminine or masculine object: the colour is always naranja; el naranjo is the orange tree.
• Wrong plural: “marróns” or “marrónes” for marrones; “azuls” for azules.
• Compound colours: “unos ojos azules claros” for unos ojos azul claro.
• “La color” instead of el color.
• Pronunciation: an English j in rojo, an l sound in amarillo, a v in verde.
• Regional forms marked wrong: café for brown and rosado for pink are standard in much of Latin America.

In class: a colour routine

Colours are easy to teach in a lesson and easy to forget in a term. A two-minute routine keeps them alive and turns them into an agreement workout.

1. Show an object or picture: a school bag, a pair of trainers, a flag.
2. Ask ¿De qué color es? or ¿De qué color son?
3. The class answers in a full sentence: Es una mochila negra.
4. Reveal the answer, then change the noun to force agreement: la mochila, el estuche, las zapatillas.
5. Hand the questions to a pupil, who picks the next object in the room.

Games that fit: Veo, veo, the traditional Spanish “I spy” (Veo una cosa de color verde); Simón dice with Tocad algo rojo (touch something red); flags of Spanish-speaking countries (La bandera de México es verde, blanca y roja.).

Adapting to your class

• A1Name the colour: Es rojo. Es azul.
• A2Agreement with clothes and school items: Llevo una camiseta blanca y unos vaqueros azules.
• B1Shades and invariable colours: unos ojos verde oscuro, unas camisetas color naranja; describing people
• B2Idioms and ponerse + colour: Se puso rojo de vergüenza. Me quedé en blanco en el examen.

At KS2, colours and one noun are plenty. At KS3, agreement is the real target. At GCSE, colours come back in descriptions of people, clothes and places.

Frequently asked questions