Arabic Colours and Adjective Agreement Made Simple

Colours are among the first vocabulary learners enjoy, and in Arabic they also introduce the essential rules of adjective agreement.

Basic colours

Masculine form first, feminine form second:

• أحمر / حمراء (ahmar / hamra') — red
• أزرق / زرقاء (azraq / zarqa') — blue
• أخضر / خضراء (akhdar / khadra') — green
• أصفر / صفراء (asfar / safra') — yellow
• أبيض / بيضاء (abyad / bayda') — white
• أسود / سوداء (aswad / sawda') — black

Other useful colours include برتقالي (burtuqali, orange, from the name of the fruit), بنفسجي (banafsaji, purple, from "violet"), and رمادي (ramadi, grey).

Adjectives follow the noun

Unlike English, the adjective comes after the noun it describes. A red car is "car red": سيارة حمراء (sayyara hamra'). A white house is بيت أبيض (bayt abyad).

Agreement in gender

If the noun is feminine, the adjective takes its feminine form. سيارة (sayyara, car) is feminine, so حمراء; بيت (bayt, house) is masculine, so أبيض.

Agreement in definiteness

If the noun is definite, the adjective is too: السيارة الحمراء (as-sayyara al-hamra', "the red car"). Drop the article on the adjective, and you get a sentence: السيارة حمراء — "the car is red".

Plurals of non-human nouns

Arabic has a striking rule: plural nouns referring to things (not people) are treated grammatically as feminine singular. So "red cars" is سيارات حمراء (sayyarat hamra'), using the feminine singular adjective. For plural people, the adjective takes a plural form.

Colour adjectives and the "nisba" ending

Some colour words, like برتقالي, are formed with the ending ـي (-i), a common way to turn a noun into an adjective. When feminine, these add ة: برتقالية (burtuqaliyya).

Cultural notes

Colours carry associations in Arab culture: green has strong links with Islam and with several national flags, while white is often associated with purity and is common in traditional dress in the Gulf.

Practice ideas

1. Describe five objects around you using colour and correct gender.
2. Turn each into "the ___ is ___" sentences.
3. Try pluralising and observe the feminine-singular rule.
4. Look up any unknown colour to see its script and vowel marks.

Find colours and other adjectives with English Arabic Dictionary →