Spanish colours and patterns
Spanish colour adjectives go after the noun and only some agree for gender: rojo becomes roja, but azul, verde and gris never change. Patterns use "de" or "a": de rayas for striped, a cuadros for checked. Colours used as nouns are always masculine — el azul.
Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.
The colours
| Spanish | English | Changes for gender? |
|---|---|---|
| rojo | red | yes — roja |
| negro | black | yes — negra |
| blanco | white | yes — blanca |
| amarillo | yellow | yes — amarilla |
| morado | purple | yes — morada |
| rosado | pink | yes — rosada |
| anaranjado | orange | yes — anaranjada |
| verde | green | no |
| azul | blue | no |
| gris | grey | no |
| marrón | brown | no |
| beige | beige | no |
| celeste | light blue | no |
| naranja | orange | no |
The rule is simple: adjectives ending in -o have a feminine form; the rest do not. Un portón rojo, una puerta roja — but un portón azul, una puerta azul.
All of them add -s or -es for plural, including the ones that do not change for gender: zapatos azules, paredes grises.
Position
Colours go after the noun, always:
- una manta roja — a red blanket
- el cielo gris de Lima — Lima’s grey sky
Putting the colour first is not a stylistic choice, it is wrong, with the exception of poetry and set phrases.
Colours as nouns are masculine
When the colour is the thing you are talking about rather than a description, it takes el, regardless of what it is describing:
- “Me gusta el azul.” — I like the blue one
- “¿Lo tiene en verde?” — do you have it in green
- “El rojo es más bonito.”
So the blanket is roja but the colour is el rojo.
Shades
- claro — light. azul claro, verde claro
- oscuro — dark. azul oscuro
- fuerte / vivo — bright, strong
- pálido — pale
These come after the colour and — this catches people — do not agree when used this way: una blusa azul claro, not azul clara. The pair is treated as a single unit.
Peruvian shade words worth having: guinda (deep cherry red, and the colour of a great many school uniforms), turquesa, ocre, mostaza, granate, añil (indigo, the classic doorway blue).
Patterns
Two prepositions do nearly all the work:
- de rayas / a rayas — striped
- a cuadros — checked
- de lunares — spotted, polka-dotted
- estampado — printed, patterned
- liso — plain, solid colour
- tejido — woven or knitted
- bordado — embroidered
So: “una chompa a rayas” — a striped jumper. Chompa, not suéter or jersey, is the Peruvian word.
On textiles specifically
Andean weaving has its own descriptive vocabulary, and asking about it is one of the better conversations available to a learner in a market:
- el diseño — the design
- el motivo — the motif
- la greca — the running geometric border
- la chakana — the stepped Andean cross, which you will see constantly once you know its name
- los colores naturales — natural dyes. “¿Es teñido natural?” — is it naturally dyed
- la cochinilla — cochineal, the insect that gives the deep reds, and a genuinely Peruvian export
More on the materials in Peruvian textiles and crafts.
Topics Art and craftBuildings and architectureAdjectives
Which colours change, and which do not
Eight on colour and pattern — the endings that agree, the ones that never do, and the shade words that break the rule you have just learned.
-
1*una puerta ___* — a blue door.
Answer
azul — *Azul* does not end in *-o*, so it has no separate feminine form: *un portón azul*, *una puerta azul*. It only changes for plural — *azules*.
-
2*una manta ___* — a red blanket.
Answer
roja — *Rojo* ends in *-o*, so it does have a feminine form and *manta* is feminine. This is the half of the colour list that agrees.
-
3*una blusa azul ___* — a light blue blouse.
Answer
claro — Shade words do not agree when they follow a colour — *azul claro* is treated as a single unit. *Una blusa azul clara* is the mistake almost everyone makes once.
-
4You are pointing at a blue one among several. *Me gusta ___ azul.*
Answer
el — A colour used as a noun is always masculine, whatever it describes — *el azul*, *el rojo*. So the blanket is *roja* but the colour is *el rojo*.
-
5You want a striped jumper. Which do you say in Lima?
Answer
*una chompa a rayas* — *A rayas* (or *de rayas*) is striped; *a cuadros* is checked and *de lunares* is spotted. And it is *chompa* in Peru, not *suéter* or *jersey*.
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6*Las paredes son ___* — the walls are grey.
Answer
grises — Colours that do not change for gender still change for number. Ending in a consonant, *gris* takes *-es*: *grises*.
-
7Which of these is wrong?
Answer
*una roja manta* — Colours go after the noun, always, outside poetry and set phrases. Putting it first is not a stylistic choice, it is an error.
-
8A weaver points at the design and says *la chakana*. What is she showing you?
Answer
The stepped Andean cross — *La chakana* is the stepped Andean cross, and you will see it everywhere once you know its name. The running border is *la greca* and the loom is *el telar*.