German Colours: Words, Grammar and Useful Expressions
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German colour words turn up everywhere, from clothes and food to football cards and everyday expressions. Several are close to their English equivalents, while others need a little more practice.
Here are the main colours in German, along with the grammar you need to use them and some expressions you will hear in real conversations.
Table of contents
- How to Say “Colour” in German: Farbe
- How to Say “Red” in German
- How to Say “Blue” in German
- How to Say “Green” in German
- How to Say “Yellow” in German
- How to Say “Orange” in German
- How to Say “Pink” in German
- How to Say “Purple” in German
- How to Say “Grey” in German
- How to Say “Black” in German
- How to Say “White” in German
- How to Say “Brown” in German
- Over to You
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How to Say “Colour” in German: Farbe
The German word for “colour” is the feminine noun die Farbe. Its plural is die Farben. To ask what colour something is, say Welche Farbe ist das?, “What colour is that?”
You will also see Farbe in farblos, “colourless”, farbenfroh, “colourful”, and farbenblind, “colour-blind”. In compound nouns, it often appears as Farb-, as in der Farbfernseher, “colour television”.
A Note on Grammar
When a German colour word comes before a noun, it usually takes an adjective ending. That ending depends on the noun’s gender, number and case, as well as the article or other determiner before it. Compare ein weißes Hemd, “a white shirt”, with ein weißer Rock, “a white skirt”.
In standard German, rosa and lila do not take adjective endings: ein rosa Hemd and ein lila Rock. You may hear forms such as rosanes and lilanes in conversation, but they are not part of the written standard. Ein rosafarbenes Hemd and ein lilafarbener Rock are standard alternatives.
Basic colour names can also be used as nouns. Then they are capitalised and usually neuter: das Blau des Himmels, “the blue of the sky”.
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How to Say “Red” in German
“Red” is rot. Red wine is der Rotwein, and Little Red Riding Hood is Rotkäppchen, literally “little red cap”.
The colloquial verb rotsehen, written as one word, means to lose control in anger. It is close to the English expression “to see red”.
How to Say “Blue” in German
“Blue” is blau. A blue flashing light on an emergency vehicle is das Blaulicht.
In colloquial German, describing someone as blau can mean that they are drunk. A black eye is ein blaues Auge, while blauäugig can mean either blue-eyed or naïve. Blaues Blut, “blue blood”, refers to noble ancestry, much as it does in English.
How to Say “Green” in German
“Green” is grün. Jemandem grünes Licht geben means “to give someone the green light”.
Ireland, my own home country, is often called die Grüne Insel, “the Emerald Isle”. If two things are basically the same, a German speaker might use the colloquial phrase dasselbe in Grün, literally “the same thing in green”.
How to Say “Yellow” in German
“Yellow” is gelb. In football, die gelbe Karte is the yellow card shown as a warning.
The colloquial expression sich gelb und grün ärgern means to get extremely annoyed. Its colours do not translate literally into a natural English expression.
How to Say “Orange” in German
The adjective “orange” is orange in German too. The stress falls on the second syllable, and Duden records the standard pronunciations [oˈrɑ̃ːʃ] and [oˈraŋʃ]. Both end with the sound written “sh” in English.
Capitalisation and gender separate the colour from the fruit: das Orange is the colour orange, while die Orange is an orange.
How to Say “Pink” in German
German has two useful everyday words for “pink”. Rosa commonly refers to a pale or light pink, while pink suggests a stronger, brighter shade.
Remember that standard rosa does not take an adjective ending. The expression eine rosarote Brille aufhaben, “to have rose-tinted glasses on”, means seeing something too positively.
How to Say “Purple” in German
Both lila and violett are normal German words for purple or violet. Lila stays unchanged before a noun in standard German, as in ein lila Kleid, “a purple dress”. Violett takes the usual adjective endings: ein violettes Kleid.
How to Say “Grey” in German
“Grey” is grau. To go grey is grau werden. A grey area is die Grauzone, and the grey matter of the brain is die graue Substanz.
How to Say “Black” in German
“Black” is schwarz. Several common verbs use it. Schwarzfahren means travelling on public transport without a valid ticket, and the colloquial verb schwarzsehen means being pessimistic about what will happen.
The colloquial verb sich schwarzärgern means to get very annoyed. All three verbs are written as single words.
How to Say “White” in German
“White” is weiß, pronounced [vaɪ̯s]. The initial w has a /v/ sound, ei forms the diphthong in the English word “eye”, and ß has an /s/ sound.
The colloquial expression eine weiße Weste haben, literally “to have a white waistcoat”, means to be innocent or blameless.
How to Say “Brown” in German
“Brown” is braun. To become brown is braun werden; when talking about tanning, you can use sich bräunen.
Add hell- for a light shade and dunkel- for a dark one. So hellbraun is light brown and dunkelblau is dark blue. These compounds take adjective endings in front of a noun, as in ein dunkelblaues Hemd, “a dark-blue shirt”.
Over to You
Choose three colours from this list and use each one in a short description. Then pick one expression, such as dasselbe in Grün or eine weiße Weste haben, and make up a situation where you could say it.
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