Colours have a special pattern. For a masculine noun we use أَفْعَل: أَحْمَر. For a feminine noun we use فَعْلَاء: حَمْرَاء. So we say قَمِيص أَحْمَر but حَقِيبَة حَمْرَاء. A plural of things takes the feminine singular, as you know from Unit 5: الْأَحْذِيَة سَوْدَاء. The colour comes after the noun and takes الْ when the noun has الْ: الْقَمِيص الْأَزْرَق. To ask a man his size, say مَا مَقَاسُك؟ and to a woman مَا مَقَاسُكِ؟
Colour
Masculine
Feminine
red
أَحْمَر
حَمْرَاء
blue
أَزْرَق
زَرْقَاء
green
أَخْضَر
خَضْرَاء
yellow
أَصْفَر
صَفْرَاء
white
أَبْيَض
بَيْضَاء
black
أَسْوَد
سَوْدَاء
Worked examples
Colours with nouns. Listen and repeat.
Seller
أَهْلًا! مَاذَا تُرِيدِين؟
Layla
أُرِيد الْفُسْتَان الْأَصْفَر.
Seller
مَا مَقَاسُكِ؟
Layla
مَقَاسِي صَغِير.
Layla is in a shop. Press each line.
A plural of things: feminine singular.
Class activity
Look around your room. Write six sentences with a noun and a colour, for example قَمِيص أَحْمَر or حَقِيبَة زَرْقَاء. Check each noun: masculine takes أَفْعَل, feminine takes فَعْلَاء. Then say your own size: مَقَاسِي صَغِير, مُتَوَسِّط or كَبِير.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Which colour do you hear?
بُنِّيّ (bunnī), “brown”. It is a new colour.
2
Write: “a black bag”.
حَقِيبَة سَوْدَاء (ḥaqība sawdāʾ). حَقِيبَة is feminine.
3
The picture shows red. Which word do you use for a shirt (masculine)?
أَحْمَر (ʾaḥmar).
4
The picture shows blue and white. Write: “a blue dress and a white dress”.
فُسْتَان أَزْرَق وَفُسْتَان أَبْيَض. فُسْتَان is masculine.
5
Choose the right word: حِذَاء (أَسْوَد / سَوْدَاء).
