Vocabulary: Colours

Vocabulary: Colours

Introduction to Russian Colours

  • Colour words in Russian relate to objects or concepts through the concept of matching or contrasting colours.
  • Most basic colour words in Russian are adjectives and need to agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Common Colour Adjectives

  • Красный (krasnyi) - red
  • Синий (siniy) - blue
  • Жёлтый (zheltyi) - yellow
  • Зелёный (zelyonyi) - green
  • Чёрный (chyorny) - black
  • Белый (belyi) - white
  • Розовый (rozovyi) - pink
  • Голубой (goluboi) - light blue
  • Коричневый (korichnevyi) - brown
  • Оранжевый (oranzhevyi) - orange
  • Серый (seryi) - grey
  • Фиолетовый (fioletovyi) - purple

Using Colours in Sentences

  • Colours should agree with the noun they are describing in gender, number, and case.
  • For example, ‘красная книга’ (krasnaya kniga - red book) but ‘красное яблоко’ (krasnoye yabloko - red apple).

Shades of Colours in Russian

  • To express different shades of colours, you can use words like темный (dark) or светлый (light) in front of the colour.
  • For example, ‘темно-синий’ (temno-siniy - dark blue) or ‘светло-зелёный’ (svetlo-zelyonyi - light green).
  • Colour words often appear in idiomatic expressions, proverbs and metaphors.
  • For instance, ‘зелёные годы’ (zelyonyye gody) does not mean ‘green years’ but ‘youth’ or ‘young age’. Familiarise yourself with common idiomatic usage of colour words.