➤ Usage of Colors in German
In the German language, colors function primarily as adjectives or nouns, and their grammatical behavior changes accordingly. When a color is used as an adjective directly before a noun (attributive use), it must take a specific ending to match the gender, number, and case of that noun (e.g., ein roter Apfel). However, when used after a verb like "sein" (to be), the color remains in its base form and does not decline (e.g., der Apfel ist rot). To describe lighter or darker shades, Germans prefix the color with hell- (light) or dunkel- (dark), such as hellblau or dunkelgrün. Furthermore, when a color is used as a noun, it is always capitalized and treated as a neuter noun, typically preceded by the preposition "in" (e.g., das Blau des Himmels or alles in Schwarz).
| German | English | Pronunciation |
| weiß | White | vays |
| gelb | Yellow | gelp |
| orange | Orange | o-ran-je |
| pink | Pink | pink |
| rot | Red | rot |
| braun | Brown | bra-un |
| grün | Green | grün |
| blau | Blue | blau |
| violett | Violet / Purple | vi-o-let |
| grau | Grey | grau |
| schwarz | Black | ÅŸvarts |
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