Lesson Four: Colors
Ready for some basic colors? Colors are everywhere, so they’re easy to point out and practice with.
In Japanese, some colors are adjectives and some are nouns. Adjectives are words that describe nouns. There are two types of adjectives in Japanese. But don’t worry about it too much now, I’ll just cover the very basics.
White, black, red and blue are adjectives. Just put them in front of the word that needs color.
white | shiroi | しろい |
black | kuroi | くろい |
blue | aoi | あおい |
red | akai | あかい |
green | midori | みどり |
Here are some examples of adjectives in use.
red apple | akai ringo | あかいりんご |
black paper | kuroi kami | くろいかみ |
Here are some more colors that are nouns. Green, from the last list, is also a noun.
brown | chairo | ちゃいろ |
yellow | kiiro | きいろ |
orange | orenji iro | オレンジいろ |
grey | haiiro | はいいろ |
pink | pinku | ピンク |
In order to connect a noun to a noun we need to put a の (no) between the words. Remember to put the color before the noun! It would go in this order: “color” -の (no)- “noun.” See the examples below.
yellow hat | kiiro no boushi | きいろのぼうし |
grey car | haiiro no kuruma | はいいろのくるま |
Alright! Time to get some practice in!
GAME: Multiple choice
What is your favorite color? Did I cover it? My favorite color is pink. It’s so cute! Remember to practice in real life! It’s okay to say the noun in English if you don’t know it in Japanese yet. Just remember which colors are adjectives and which are nouns!
Let’s get a little more practice in. Remember that until you master all the words in a less I can’t teach you anything new.
GAME: Hit-a-word
You’re making great progress! Now go finish mastering those words! Ganbatte!
