Colors

The German words for colors usually function as adjectives and take the normal adjective endings (but see exceptions below). In certain situations, colors can also be nouns and are thus capitalized: "eine Bluse in Blau" (a blouse in blue); "das Blaue vom Himmel versprechen" (to promise heaven and earth, lit., "the blue of the heavens").

The chart below shows some of the more common colors with sample phrases.

Farbe	Color	Color Phrases with Adjective Endings
rot	red	der rote Wagen (the red car), der Wagen ist rot
rosa	pink	die rosa Rosen (the pink roses)*
blau	blue	ein blaues Auge (a black eye), er ist blau (he's drunk)
hell- blau	light blue	die hellblaue Bluse (the light blue blouse)**
dunkel- blau	dark blue	die dunkelblaue Bluse (the dark blue blouse)
grün	green	der grüne Hut (the green hat)
gelb	yellow	die gelben Seiten (yellow pages), ein gelbes Auto
weiß	white	das weiße Papier (the white paper)
schwarz	black	der schwarze Koffer (the black suitcase)
*Colors ending in -a (lila, rosa) do not take the normal adjective endings. **Light or dark colors are preceded by hell- (light) or dunkel- (dark), as in hellgrün (light green) or dunkelgrün (dark green).