Colours in Italian, and When They Don't Change

Colours are a good introduction to how Italian adjectives agree with nouns, and to the few adjectives that refuse to change.

The colours

English	Italian
red	rosso
blue	blu
light blue	azzurro, celeste
green	verde
yellow	giallo
white	bianco
black	nero
orange	arancione
pink	rosa
purple	viola
grey	grigio
brown	marrone

Agreement

Adjectives ending in -o have four forms:

	Masculine	Feminine
singular	rosso	rossa
plural	rossi	rosse

Examples:

• un libro rosso — a red book
• una macchina rossa — a red car
• due libri rossi, due macchine rosse

Adjectives ending in -e have two forms, singular and plural:

• verde → verdi: una mela verde, due mele verdi
• marrone → marroni: scarpe marroni

Colours that don't change

Some colours are invariable, because they are borrowed or come from nouns (flowers):

• blu: una gonna blu, due gonne blu
• rosa: una camicia rosa, due camicie rosa
• viola: una sciarpa viola, due sciarpe viola

Position

Colours come after the noun:

• una casa bianca — a white house
• gli occhi verdi — green eyes

Light and dark

Add chiaro (light) or scuro (dark), which stay unchanged with the colour:

• verde chiaro — light green
• blu scuro — dark blue

Cultural note

The national football team is called gli Azzurri, after the blue of their shirts. The Italian flag is il tricolore: verde, bianco e rosso.

Useful sentences

• Di che colore è? — What colour is it?
• È rosso. — It's red.
• Mi piace il verde. — I like green.

Tips

1. Learn colours with a noun.
2. Remember blu, rosa and viola don't change.
3. Use the dictionary to check spelling and forms.

Look up any word with English Italian Dictionary →