Colors in Dutch
General:
Colors as nouns are het-words.
Example: het blauw van de hemel (*the blue of the sky*).
Basic Colors:
Special Colors and Variations:
scharlaken – scarlet
violet – violet
kleurloos – colorless, pale, bland
kleurrijk – colorful
lichtblauw – light blue
donkerblauw – dark blue
flets – pale, washed-out
pasteltinten – pastel tints
schutkleur – camouflage color
cyaan – cyan
Extreme Colors:
pikzwart – pitch-black
hagelwit – hail white
sneeuwwit – snow white
spierwit – muscle white (very pale)
vuurrood – fiery red
mauve – mauve
vaalbruin – faded brown
pimpelpaars – bright purple
purper – purple (old-fashioned)
rossig – reddish
groenig – greenish
gelig – yellowish
beige – beige
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Related Vocabulary
(de) regenboog – rainbow
roze rozen – pink roses
roodpaars – red-purple
blauwpaars – blue-purple
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Color Usage as Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns and almost always get an -E ending.
Note: If the base color ends with an -e (like oranje or roze), no additional -e is added.
Examples:
de sinaasappels zijn oranje – the oranges are orange
de oranje sinaasappels – the orange oranges
de huid is roze – the skin is pink
de roze huid – the pink skin
de hemel is blauw – the sky is blue
de blauwe hemel – the blue sky
de appel is groen – the apple is green
de groene appel – the green apple
de tomaten zijn rood – the tomatoes are red
de rode tomaten – the red tomatoes
melk is wit – milk is white
de witte melk – the white milk
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Spelling Adjustments with Colors
When adding -e to adjectives:
- wit → witte (double consonant added)
- rood → rode (double vowel reduces)
- geel → gele
- groen → groene
- blauw → blauwe
- bruin → bruine
- zwart → zwarte
- paars → paarse
Special Cases:
mager → magere – thin → thinner
edel → edele – noble → nobler
Reminder: It's all about keeping syllables correctly long or short in Dutch spelling!
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