{"id":67,"date":"2026-09-30T15:18:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leweb2ks.dev\/vitrine-vocadial\/en\/resources\/colours-in-spanish\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T15:18:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:18:55","slug":"colours-in-spanish","status":"publish","type":"vd_ressource","link":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/resources\/colours-in-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"Colours in Spanish: list, agreement and classroom use"},"content":{"rendered":"

The colours in Spanish<\/h2>\n\n

The pronunciation column uses English sounds, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The last column shows the other forms: feminine, then plural.<\/p>\n\n

Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>Say it like<\/th>Other forms<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
rojo<\/td>red<\/td>ROH-hoh, with a throaty h<\/td>roja, rojos, rojas<\/td><\/tr>
azul<\/td>blue<\/td>ah-THOOL (Spain), ah-SOOL (Latin America)<\/td>azules<\/td><\/tr>
amarillo<\/td>yellow<\/td>ah-mah-REE-yoh<\/td>amarilla, amarillos, amarillas<\/td><\/tr>
verde<\/td>green<\/td>BEHR-deh<\/td>verdes<\/td><\/tr>
naranja<\/td>orange<\/td>nah-RAHN-hah<\/td>naranja or naranjas in the plural<\/td><\/tr>
morado<\/td>purple<\/td>moh-RAH-doh<\/td>morada, morados, moradas<\/td><\/tr>
rosa<\/td>pink<\/td>ROH-sah<\/td>rosa or rosas in the plural<\/td><\/tr>
blanco<\/td>white<\/td>BLAHN-koh<\/td>blanca, blancos, blancas<\/td><\/tr>
negro<\/td>black<\/td>NEH-groh<\/td>negra, negros, negras<\/td><\/tr>
gris<\/td>grey<\/td>greess<\/td>grises<\/td><\/tr>
marr\u00f3n<\/td>brown<\/td>mah-RRON<\/td>marrones<\/td><\/tr>
violeta<\/td>violet<\/td>byoh-LEH-tah<\/td>violeta or violetas in the plural<\/td><\/tr>
celeste<\/td>sky blue<\/td>theh-LESS-teh (Spain), seh-LESS-teh (Latin America)<\/td>celestes<\/td><\/tr>
dorado<\/td>gold, golden<\/td>doh-RAH-doh<\/td>dorada, dorados, doradas<\/td><\/tr>
plateado<\/td>silver<\/td>plah-teh-AH-doh<\/td>plateada, plateados, plateadas<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

Other useful shades: turquesa<\/span> (turquoise), lila<\/span> (lilac), fucsia<\/span> (fuchsia), beis<\/span> or beige<\/span> (beige), granate<\/span> (maroon), azul marino<\/span> (navy blue).<\/p>\n\n

Three sounds need attention. The j of rojo<\/span> and naranja<\/span> is the throaty h of Scottish “loch”. The ll of amarillo<\/span> is a y for most speakers, and closer to “sh” in Argentina and Uruguay. The v of verde<\/span> and violeta<\/span> is a b. The rr of marr\u00f3n<\/span> is rolled.<\/p>\n\n

Regional words<\/h3>\n\n
  • Brown:<\/strong> marr\u00f3n<\/span> in Spain; caf\u00e9<\/span> is the usual word in Mexico, Central America and several other countries. For hair and eyes, casta\u00f1o<\/span> is used everywhere.<\/li>
  • Pink:<\/strong> rosa<\/span> in Spain; rosado<\/span> is very common in Latin America.<\/li>
  • Orange:<\/strong> naranja<\/span> everywhere, with anaranjado<\/span> also common in parts of Latin America.<\/li>
  • Light blue:<\/strong> celeste<\/span> is the everyday word in much of Latin America, and the colour of Argentina’s flag. Spain tends to say azul claro<\/span> or azul celeste<\/span>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n

    None of these should be marked wrong: accept the variant a pupil has learnt, and point out the one you use.<\/p>\n\n

    Agreement: rojo, roja, rojos, rojas<\/h2>\n\n
    1. Colours ending in -o have four forms.<\/strong> un bol\u00edgrafo rojo<\/span>, una regla roja<\/span>, unos zapatos rojos<\/span>, unas botas rojas<\/span>.<\/li>
    2. Colours ending in -e or a consonant have two.<\/strong> Singular and plural only: una camiseta verde<\/span>, unos ojos azules<\/span>, unos pantalones grises<\/span>, unas botas marrones<\/span>. Note that marrones<\/span> loses its written accent.<\/li>
    3. Colours that are also nouns do not change for gender.<\/strong> Naranja<\/span> (an orange), rosa<\/span> (a rose), violeta<\/span>, lila<\/span>, turquesa<\/span>, fucsia<\/span>: un jersey naranja<\/span>, una falda rosa<\/span>. In the plural, both camisetas naranja<\/span> and camisetas naranjas<\/span> are accepted.<\/li>
    4. “Colour” + noun never changes.<\/strong> unas camisetas color naranja<\/span>, unos calcetines de color rosa<\/span>. A safe option for pupils who are unsure.<\/li>
    5. Light and dark: the whole phrase stays masculine singular.<\/strong> una falda azul claro<\/span>, unos ojos verde oscuro<\/span>, unas camisas azul marino<\/span>. The same goes for rojo vivo<\/span> (bright red) or verde botella<\/span> (bottle green).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n

      Where the colour goes<\/h2>\n\n
      1. After the noun.<\/strong> un coche blanco<\/span>, la Casa Blanca<\/span> (the White House). “Blanco coche” is wrong in everyday Spanish; before the noun, colours only appear in poetry and set phrases.<\/li>
      2. Colours as nouns are masculine.<\/strong> el rojo<\/span>, el verde<\/span>: Mi color favorito es el azul.<\/span> Color<\/span> itself is masculine too: el color<\/span>, not “la color”.<\/li>
      3. Asking about colours.<\/strong> \u00bfDe qu\u00e9 color es tu mochila?<\/span> Es negra.<\/span> In the plural: \u00bfDe qu\u00e9 color son tus zapatillas?<\/span> Son blancas.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>\n\n

        Tengo una mochila azul y un estuche rojo.<\/span>I’ve got a blue bag and a red pencil case.<\/small><\/p>\n\n

        La bandera de Espa\u00f1a es roja y amarilla.<\/span>The flag of Spain is red and yellow.<\/small><\/p>\n\n

        Mi hermana tiene los ojos verdes y el pelo casta\u00f1o.<\/span>My sister has green eyes and brown hair.<\/small><\/p>\n\n

        Llevo unas zapatillas azul oscuro.<\/span>I’m wearing dark blue trainers.<\/small><\/p>\n\n

        Hair and eyes<\/h3>\n\n

        For descriptions, a GCSE favourite, Spanish often uses its own words. Hair is rubio<\/span> (blond), casta\u00f1o<\/span> (brown), negro<\/span>, pelirrojo<\/span> (red: soy pelirroja<\/span>, I’ve got red hair), canoso<\/span> or gris<\/span> (grey). Moreno<\/span> means dark-haired, and also tanned or dark-skinned. Eyes are azules<\/span>, verdes<\/span>, grises<\/span>, marrones<\/span> (Spain), caf\u00e9s<\/span> (Mexico and elsewhere) or casta\u00f1os<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

        Idioms with colours<\/h2>\n\n
        • ponerse rojo<\/span>: to go red, to blush<\/li>
        • estar verde<\/span>: to be unripe; to be a beginner (Estoy verde en qu\u00edmica.<\/span>)<\/li>
        • quedarse en blanco<\/span>: for your mind to go blank (in an exam, for instance)<\/li>
        • pasar la noche en blanco<\/span>: to have a sleepless night<\/li>
        • verlo todo de color de rosa<\/span>: to see everything through rose-tinted glasses<\/li>
        • estar en n\u00fameros rojos<\/span>: to be in the red<\/li>
        • el pr\u00edncipe azul<\/span>: Prince Charming<\/li>
        • la prensa rosa<\/span>: celebrity gossip magazines; la novela negra<\/span>: crime fiction<\/li>
        • ponerse morado<\/span>: to stuff yourself with food (Spain, informal)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n

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

          Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners<\/h2>\n\n
          • Colour before the noun:<\/strong> “un rojo coche”, copied from English word order.<\/li>
          • No agreement:<\/strong> “una casa blanco”, “las camisetas rojo”.<\/li>
          • “Naranjo” for a feminine or masculine object:<\/strong> the colour is always naranja<\/span>; el naranjo<\/span> is the orange tree.<\/li>
          • Wrong plural:<\/strong> “marr\u00f3ns” or “marr\u00f3nes” for marrones<\/span>; “azuls” for azules<\/span>.<\/li>
          • Compound colours:<\/strong> “unos ojos azules claros” for unos ojos azul claro<\/span>.<\/li>
          • “La color”<\/strong> instead of el color<\/span>.<\/li>
          • Pronunciation:<\/strong> an English j in rojo<\/span>, an l sound in amarillo<\/span>, a v in verde<\/span>.<\/li>
          • Regional forms marked wrong:<\/strong> caf\u00e9<\/span> for brown and rosado<\/span> for pink are standard in much of Latin America.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n

            In class: a colour routine<\/h2>\n\n

            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.<\/p>\n\n

            1. Show an object or picture: a school bag, a pair of trainers, a flag.<\/li>
            2. Ask \u00bfDe qu\u00e9 color es?<\/span> or \u00bfDe qu\u00e9 color son?<\/span><\/li>
            3. The class answers in a full sentence: Es una mochila negra.<\/span><\/li>
            4. Reveal the answer, then change the noun to force agreement: la mochila<\/span>, el estuche<\/span>, las zapatillas<\/span>.<\/li>
            5. Hand the questions to a pupil, who picks the next object in the room.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n

              Games that fit: Veo, veo<\/span>, the traditional Spanish “I spy” (Veo una cosa de color verde<\/span>); Sim\u00f3n dice<\/span> with Tocad algo rojo<\/span> (touch something red); flags of Spanish-speaking countries (La bandera de M\u00e9xico es verde, blanca y roja.<\/span>).<\/p>\n\n

              Adapting to your class<\/h3>\n\n
              • A1<\/b>Name the colour: Es rojo.<\/span> Es azul.<\/span><\/li>
              • A2<\/b>Agreement with clothes and school items: Llevo una camiseta blanca y unos vaqueros azules.<\/span><\/li>
              • B1<\/b>Shades and invariable colours: unos ojos verde oscuro<\/span>, unas camisetas color naranja<\/span>; describing people<\/li>
              • B2<\/b>Idioms and ponerse + colour: Se puso rojo de verg\u00fcenza.<\/span> Me qued\u00e9 en blanco en el examen.<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\n\n

                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.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                Rojo, azul, amarillo: the full list, how colours agree, why naranja barely changes, marr\u00f3n or caf\u00e9, and idioms pupils enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"menu_order":12,"template":"","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Colours in Spanish: List, Agreement, Rules | VocaDial","_seopress_titles_desc":"The colours in Spanish with pronunciation, agreement (rojo, roja, rojos), naranja and rosa, light and dark shades, regional words and everyday idioms.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_vd_topic":"couleurs","_vd_target":"es","_vd_module":"","_vd_level":"A1","_vd_minutes":"7","_vd_card_word":"rojo\u2026","_vd_answer":"The main colours in Spanish are rojo<\/span> (red), azul<\/span> (blue), amarillo<\/span> (yellow), verde<\/span> (green), naranja<\/span> (orange), morado<\/span> (purple), rosa<\/span> (pink), blanco<\/span> (white), negro<\/span> (black), gris<\/span> (grey) and marr\u00f3n<\/span> (brown). They come after the noun and agree with it: un coche rojo<\/span>, una casa roja<\/span>, unos zapatos negros<\/span>.","_vd_faq":"[{\"q\":\"What are the colours in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"Rojo<\\\/span> (red), azul<\\\/span> (blue), amarillo<\\\/span> (yellow), verde<\\\/span> (green), naranja<\\\/span> (orange), morado<\\\/span> (purple), rosa<\\\/span> (pink), blanco<\\\/span> (white), negro<\\\/span> (black), gris<\\\/span> (grey) and marr\u00f3n<\\\/span> (brown).\"},{\"q\":\"Do colours go before or after the noun in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"After: un coche rojo<\\\/span>, una casa blanca<\\\/span>. They also agree with the noun in gender and number.\"},{\"q\":\"Does naranja change in the feminine and plural?\",\"a\":\"Not in the feminine: una camiseta naranja<\\\/span>. In the plural, both camisetas naranja<\\\/span> and camisetas naranjas<\\\/span> are accepted. The same goes for rosa<\\\/span> and violeta<\\\/span>.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you say brown in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"Marr\u00f3n<\\\/span> in Spain, caf\u00e9<\\\/span> in Mexico and several other Latin American countries. For hair and eyes, casta\u00f1o<\\\/span> is used everywhere.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you say light blue or dark green in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"Azul claro<\\\/span> and verde oscuro<\\\/span>. These phrases don't change: una falda azul claro<\\\/span>, unos ojos verde oscuro<\\\/span>.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you ask what colour something is in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"\u00bfDe qu\u00e9 color es?<\\\/span> for one thing, \u00bfDe qu\u00e9 color son?<\\\/span> for several.\"}]","_vd_key":"couleurs-es","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-67","vd_ressource","type-vd_ressource","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/vd_ressource"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/67\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}