Colour words are adjectives, so they come after the noun: بَيْت أَبْيَض is a white house. The masculine colours on this page start with ʾa: أَحْمَر (red), أَزْرَق (blue), أَخْضَر (green). The feminine form has a new shape, not only an added ة: أَحْمَر becomes حَمْرَاء. Read the ending of حَمْرَاء as a long ā followed by the throat stop ʾ. Use the masculine colour with a masculine noun and the feminine colour with a feminine noun: سَيَّارَة حَمْرَاء is a red car.
Masculine
Feminine
Colour
أَحْمَر
حَمْرَاء
red
أَزْرَق
زَرْقَاء
blue
أَخْضَر
خَضْرَاء
green
أَصْفَر
صَفْرَاء
yellow
أَبْيَض
بَيْضَاء
white
أَسْوَد
سَوْدَاء
black
Worked examples
Colours after masculine nouns. Listen: a white house, a blue pen, a green book.
Colours after feminine nouns. Listen: a red car, a green tree, a black bag.
Colours in the world around us: the sun, the sky, the moon.
Class activity
Colour hunt. Find six things around you in the six colours, for example a red pencil or a blue bag. Say each one in Arabic with its noun, such as قَلَم أَحْمَر. Then draw a house, a tree and a car on paper, colour them, and write a caption under each one, for example شَجَرَة خَضْرَاء.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Is it one of the six colours of this lesson?
No. It is وَرْدِيّ (wardī), pink. The word comes from وَرْد, roses.
2
What is the feminine form of أَحْمَر?
حَمْرَاء (ḥamrāʾ).
3
The picture shows a banana. Which word is its colour: أَصْفَر or أَزْرَق?
أَصْفَر (ʾaṣfar), yellow. أَزْرَق (ʾazraq) means blue.
4
The picture shows a leaf. Which word is its colour: أَخْضَر or أَحْمَر?
أَخْضَر (ʾakhḍar), green. أَحْمَر (ʾaḥmar) means red.
5
Write “a black car” in Arabic. Careful with the gender.
سَيَّارَة سَوْدَاء. سَيَّارَة is feminine, so the colour is feminine.
