The main Spanish colors are rojo (red), azul (blue), verde (green), amarillo (yellow), negro (black), blanco (white), naranja (orange), rosa (pink), gris (gray), marrón (brown), and morado (purple). The thing to learn beyond the words themselves is that a Spanish color changes its ending to match whatever it describes. Here is the full set, with audio, and the agreement rules in plain terms.
The colors
This is the color slice of Vocabcord's A1 Spanish set. Tap the play button on any row to hear it.
| Spanish | English | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| color | color | What's your favorite color? |
| rojo | red | A red apple. |
| azul | blue | Blue sky above us. |
| verde | green | Green grass and trees. |
| amarillo | yellow | Yellow sunflowers. |
| negro | black | A black cat. |
| blanco | white | A white shirt. |
| marrón | brown | Brown bread is healthy. |
| rosa | pink | A pink flower. |
| gris | gray | Gray clouds in the sky. |
| naranja | orange (color) | Orange leaves in autumn. |
| morado | purple | Purple flowers. |
Colors ending in -o agree in gender and number
A color that ends in -o behaves like an adjective and shifts to match the noun. Rojo gives you four forms: un coche rojo (a red car), una casa roja (a red house), unos zapatos rojos (red shoes), unas flores rojas (red flowers). The same four-way change applies to negro, blanco, amarillo, and morado.
azul, verde, and gris change only for number
Colors that do not end in -o ignore gender and change only when the noun is plural, adding -es: un coche azul, una casa azul, then unos coches azules. The same holds for verde, gris, and marrón (plural marrones). Two colors borrowed from nouns, rosa (rose) and naranja (orange, the fruit), often stay the same in every form: una camisa rosa, dos coches naranja.
The color comes after the noun
Spanish puts the color after the noun it describes, so a red car is un coche rojo, with the color trailing the word it paints. English does the reverse, which is why red car flips to coche rojo. Once that order feels natural, the rest is just matching the ending.
The two mistakes to avoid
Two slips are worth guarding against. The first is leaving the ending unchanged when the noun is feminine or plural; it should be una casa blanca and unas casas blancas, with the color matching all the way through. The second is placing the color in front of the noun out of English habit, when Spanish wants it behind: un coche rojo. Get the order and the ending right and the colors themselves are the easy part.
Common questions
How do you say the colors in Spanish?
The main ones are rojo (red), azul (blue), verde (green), amarillo (yellow), negro (black), blanco (white), naranja (orange), rosa (pink), gris (gray), marrón (brown), and morado (purple).
Do Spanish colors change for gender?
The ones ending in -o do: rojo becomes roja for a feminine noun, and rojos or rojas in the plural. Colors like azul, verde, and gris ignore gender and change only for number, adding -es.
Does the color go before or after the noun in Spanish?
After. Spanish places the color behind the noun it describes, so a red car is un coche rojo and a white house is una casa blanca.
How do you make a Spanish color plural?
Add -s after a vowel (rojo to rojos) and -es after a consonant (azul to azules, gris to grises). Rosa and naranja usually stay unchanged.
