Colors agree with the noun
A color adjective matches its noun in gender and number:
| Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|
| un carro rojo | una casa roja | a red car / a red house |
| los carros rojos | las casas rojas | red cars / red houses |
| un gato negro | una gata negra | a black cat |
Colors ending in -o have four forms (rojo, roja, rojos, rojas). Colors ending in -e or a consonant have one form for both genders and add -s or -es in the plural: verde → verdes, azul → azules, gris → grises.
The color goes after the noun
English says "the blue car"; Spanish says el carro azul (el coche azul in Spain), the car blue. Putting the color first (el azul coche) sounds wrong in everyday Spanish. Poetry and set phrases sometimes put it first, but you can ignore that as a beginner.
Colors that never change
Colors that are also nouns for things, such as rosa (rose), naranja (orange), violeta (violet), and turquesa, often stay the same for every noun: una camisa naranja, unos zapatos rosa. In everyday speech many people make them plural anyway (zapatos rosas), and both forms are heard.
Two-word colors such as azul marino (navy blue) or verde claro (light green) do not change at all: unas camisas verde claro.
Light, dark, and "what color is it?"
- claro (light) and oscuro (dark) follow the color: azul claro, verde oscuro.
- ¿De qué color es? What color is it?
- Es rojo. It’s red.
- Me gusta el azul. I like blue. (A color used as a noun takes el and is masculine.)
- ¿Tienes esta camisa en negro? Do you have this shirt in black?
Regional differences
- Brown is café in Mexico and much of Central America, marrón in Spain and several South American countries, and castaño for hair and eyes almost everywhere.
- Pink is rosa in most places and rosado in several Latin American countries.
- Orange is naranja almost everywhere; anaranjado is also common in Latin America.
- Light blue is celeste in much of South America and azul claro in Mexico and Spain.
- Purple is morado in most places; púrpura exists but is more formal.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting agreement: la casa roja, not la casa rojo.
- Color before the noun: el perro negro, not el negro perro.
- Plurals after a consonant: azul becomes azules and gris becomes grises (add -es), not azuls.
For describing people, see beautiful in Spanish; for other word lists, family in Spanish.