How To Name And Pronounce Colors in Spanish

Learning the Colors in Spanish is a fundamental vocabulary that everyone starting to study the language has to master.

Everything that surrounds you has a color, from objects to animals. Knowing how to identify them in Spanish is a must and will allow you to communicate better since it’s a vocabulary every person uses on a daily basis. This Spanish vocabulary is very much used to point out objects, talk about your likes and dislikes, and will encourage your creative self.

In this article, we will learn everything about the vocabulary of colors that every Spanish learner should start with. We will dive deep into all the colors in Spanish, with some essential grammar rules (yes, there are some), expressions, phrases, some facts, and tips for you to help you remember all of them!

This will be an amusing and colorful topic to study, so let’s get into it!

Basic Colors In Spanish

The most important colors are

Amarillo – Yellow
Anaranjado / Naranja – Orange
Verde – Green
Azul – Blue
Púrpura / Morado – Purple
Rojo – Red
Rosado / Rosa – Pink
Negro – Black
Marrón / Café – Brown
Gris – Gray / Grey
Blanco – White

Other Colors in Spanish

Spanish	English
Ámbar	Amber
Aguamarina	Aquamarine
Magenta	Magenta
Azul Marino	Navy Blue
Cobre	Copper
Cian	Cyan
Fucsia	Fuchsia
Dorado	Gold
Salmón	Salmon
Escarlata	Scarlet
Índigo	Indigo
Lila	Lilac
Verde Limón, Verde Lima	Lime Green
Plateado	Silver
Celeste	Sky Blue
Verde Azulado	Teal
Turquesa	Turquoise
Violeta	Violet

Light and Dark Colors in Spanish

If you want to tell a dark or light color instead of a particular color, you simply have to say the primary color in Spanish followed by “obscuro” or “claro” respectively.

Examples

Rojo Obscuro – Dark Red
Azul Claro – Light Blue
Verde Obscuro – Dark Green

QUICK NOTE…

There are other words that you can use to describe colors in Spanish, you can also use: Brillante, Opaco, Fosforescente y Pastel.

Why do some colors end with A and O? (Gender Agreement for Colors in Spanish)

As you already might know, nouns (also called “sustantivos”) are masculine or feminine, and colors also follow these rules. But the good news is that they can be changed.

Changing the color gender is simple, all it takes is replacing the last letter of the color. If the noun is masculine (ending with the letter o or e) or feminine (ending with the letter a). So remember, you must change the last letter of the color name to match the noun.

Let’s check some examples.

La bandera blanca – “The white flag” (the word Bandera is feminine),
El lápiz blanco – “The white pencil” ( the word Lápiz is masculine)
El sueter rojo – “The red jacket” ( the word Sueter is masculine)
La rosa roja – “The red rose” ( the word Rosa is feminine)

DID YOU KNOW…?

In English, there is only one definite article, “the.” In Spanish, you must choose between four definite articles: el, la, los, and las. Which one you choose depends on the noun which follows. The definite articles in Spanish address two things: gender, and if a word is singular or plural.

El – Masculine singular

La – Feminine singular

Los – Masculine plural

Las – Feminine plural

Spanish Colors That Change with Gender

English Color	Masculine singular (Base)	Feminine singular	Masculine plural	Feminine plural
Red	Rojo	Roja	Rojos	Rojas
Yellow	Amarillo	Amarilla	Amarillos	Amarillas
Orange	Anaranjado	Anaranjada	Anaranjados	Anaranjados
Black	Negro	Negra	Negros	Negras
White	Blanco	Blanca	Blancos	Blancas
Purple	Morado	Morada	Morados	Moradas
Pink	Rosado	Rosada	Rosados	Rosadas
Golden	Dorado	Dorada	Dorados	Doradas
Siver	Plateado	Plateada	Plateados	Plateadas

Notice how in the previous examples the color adjective ending with -o changes to an -a in the feminine form. But, not all of them follow these rules:

Spanish Colors That Don’t Change with Gender

English Color	Masculine singular (Base)	Feminine singular	Masculine plural	Feminine plural
Green	Verde	Verde	Verdes	Verdes
Blue	Azul	Azul	Azules	Azules
Gray/Grey	Gris	Gris	Grises	Grises
Brown	Marrón	Marrón	Marrones	Marrones
Pink	Rosa	Rosa	Rosa/Rosas	Rosa/Rosas
Magenta	Magenta	Magenta	Magentas	Magentas
Orange	Naranja	Naranja	Naranjas	Naranjas
Turquoise	Turquesa	Turquesa	Turquesas	Turquesas
Brown	Café	Café	Cafés	Cafés
Violet	Violeta	Violeta	Violeta/Violetas	Violeta/Violetas

The Grammar for Colors in Spanish

Adjectives word order

Colors can be used as adjectives to describe a subject or noun. Like other adjectives in Spanish, the color comes after the noun in a sentence.

Take a look at some examples here.

La casa rosada (The pink house)
La manzana verde (The green apple)
La bolsa roja (The red bag)
El perro blanco (The white dog)
La mesa azul (The blue table)
Las sillas amarillas (The yellow chairs)
Los aretes plateados (The silver earrings)

Colors As Nouns

Colors can also act as nouns when they represent a person or object. All color nouns are masculine, even when they end in -a since the masculine word is the base word.

Some examples include the following.

Me gusta el color rosa. – I like the pink color.
El violeta es mi color favorito. – Violet is my favorite color.

Using the Verb To Be (Ser and Estar)

In order to make sentences with Spanish colors, we can use the verb “ser”. Note that the color must match the gender of the noun and the number of the subject (if the subject is plural, the color must be plural).

El vestido es morado. – The dress is purple.
La camisa es morada. – The shirt is purple.
Los globos son rojos. – The balloons are red.

We can also use the verb “estar” if we want to refer to a color of an object in a temporary matter.

Tu cara está roja por el sol. – Your face is red from the sun.
El cielo está gris. – The sky is grey right now.
Los tomates están verdes aún. – The tomato is green still.

QUICK NOTE…

Still not getting the hang of the verbs “Estar” and “Ser”? Check out our full guide on Ser vs Estar and we promise you’ll

Spanish Expressions and Phrases

¿Cuál es tu color favorito? – What is your favorite color?
Mi color favorito es el azul. – My favorite color is blue.
Mi color preferido es el gris oscuro. – My favorite color is dark grey.
El color que más me gusta es el rosa brillante. – The color I like the most is bright pink.
El color que menos me gusta es el rojo. – The color I like the least is red.
No me gusta el color verde oliva. – I don’t like olive green.
Prefiero el color amarillo que el color café. – I prefer the color yellow to the color brown.

Me encanta el color turquesa. – I love the color turquoise.

colors spanish — Image by Toa Heftiba Şinca via Pexels

Final notes to practice and learn the Colors in Spanish

Draw circles on a piece of paper and fill them with an individual color: This method is the simplest way to practice the colors, you can stick that paper in your bed so you can see it every day, write the different forms of each color so you can study their genders.
Use sticky notes to identify objects’ gender and color: A good way to practice noun genders is to put a sticky note to objects in your bedroom, write in the note the name of the object and try to identify the gender, after that, try to create a sentence using the color of the object as an adjective.
Play with your mind: When you’re bored in any place, try to watch everything around you and try to think of its color in Spanish as fast as possible, without thinking in English, only Spanish!

We hope that you had fun with this, remember, this is a topic that requires some time of practice and study, so you can start over whenever you like, and, if you feel like you need help with your learning journey, you can always trust SpanishVIP to do that! You can have a free Spanish lesson or a 7-day free trial of our group classes today and never stop learning!