This is the seventeenth lesson in our beginner level Spanish course and we will look at The Colours in Spanish and practice describing parts of the body with Colours and Tener (To have).
In our previous lesson we learned about the Parts of the Body in Spanish and how to make physical descriptions with useful adjectives (Corto/a: Short, Largo/a: Long, Pequeño/a: Small, Grande: Big) and Tener (To have). We will now continue this theme and move on to add The Colours in Spanish to our physical descriptions.
Colours are adjectives, similar to the adjectives we learned in our previous lesson. Adjectives (e.g. size, shape, age, colour, origin, material) are words which add description to nouns (things). We discussed adjectives in detail in our previous lesson 16. If you haven’t already seen that lesson, we recommend that you review it.
The Colours in Spanish:
Amarillo: yellow
Azul: blue
Blanco: white
Gris: grey
Marrón: brown
Morado: purple
Naranja: orange
Negro: black
Rojo: red
Rosa: pink
Verde: green
Some colours are slightly different when referring to hair:
Castaño: Brown
Moreno: Black
Rubio: Blonde
Pelirrojo: Red/Ginger
Canoso: Grey
Next, let’s practice using these new adjectives to describe the parts of the body…
We looked at the vocabulary of the body in the previous lesson. So, once again, please review that lesson if you are unfamiliar with this vocabulary. Remember that in Spanish adjectives come after the noun when in English they come before the noun.
Tienes los ojos muy azules: You have very blue eyes
Ella tiene los ojos grandes y marrones: She has big brown eyes
Tenemos el pelo largo y rubio: We have long blonde hair
Él no tiene el pelo canoso. Tiene el pelo moreno: He doesn’t have grey hair. He has black hair
Possessive Adjectives & The Family:
In our Spanish Lesson 15 we learned about Spanish Possessive Adjectives (Mi/s: My, Tu/s: Your, Su/s: His/Her/Its, Nuestro/a/s: Our, Vuestro/a/s: Your, Su/s: Their) and in our Spanish Lesson 14 we learned about The Family in Spanish. Let’s practice using this information again now with The Colours in Spanish and parts of the body…
¿Tu padre tiene el pelo corto y castaño?: Does your father have short brown hair?
No, su pelo es largo y pelirrojo: No, his hair is long and ginger.
¿Vuestra tía tiene los ojos verdes? Does your aunt have green eyes?
No, sus ojos son marrones: No, her eyes are brown
¿Tus abuelos tienen los dientes blancos?: Do your grandparents have white teeth?
Sí, sus dientes son muy blancos: Yes, their teeth are very white
Dark (Oscuro) & Light (Claro)
One last useful point about colours is how to describe shades of colours in Spanish using Oscuro and Claro. If you wish to say, for example, Dark blue it is Azul oscuro and Light green is Verde claro.
That’s all for this lesson about the The Colours in Spanish. It is always useful to know the colours as we use them frequently, so please do your best to try to remember them. Though it may be simple in comparison to grammar, vocabulary is the biggest challenge when learning a second language. It takes time to build up your repertoire of vocabulary, so we recommend that you start asap and try learning around ten new words daily.
