Thursday, March 28, 2024
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COLORS IN JAPANESE + INTERACTIVE EXERCISES IN JAPANESE

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In this article we will talk about the basic colors and a few more, there are about 500 colors in Japanese, little by little we will put them in parts.

After the explanation you will have a pdf to download a few colors to learn each time you look at them, there will also be exercises to print the colors in Japanese, and also interactive exercises, so you can choose what suits you best.

COLORS IN JAPANESE: BASICS

Color in Japanese is IRO (いろ / 色).

Due to the strong influence of English on Japanese, there are a number of colors that have two ways of saying each other, one predominating over the other or used depending on the context.

colors in Japanese
Colors are adjectives

These five colors in this form function as nouns, in order to use them as adjectives to describe other nouns we have to add い.

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  • Aka (あか / 赤), (RED): It is a basic color, (and only with these is it done this way) to transform it into an adjective and conjugate it, you have to add -い.

Example 赤い akai ( meaning IS RED)

  • Kiiro (黄色), (YELLOW): It is a basic color, so we will have to add い, when we want to transform it, and say it is yellow 黄色い (kiiroi).
  • Ao (あお / 青), (BLUE): It is also said, ブルー (Buruu) It does not have much use, other than in commercial uses to highlight the name of a product or the like.
  • Kuro (くろ / 黒), (BLACK): Black is a basic color in Japan, therefore い is added to use it otherwise such as an adjective.

Example: Kuroi (黒い) is black

  • Shiro (しろ / 白), (WHITE): It is a basic color in Japanese. Therefore to change the noun form you have to add い.

Summary: Colors are adjectives in Japanese, these basic ones that we have just described.

japanese colors
Japanese Colors

COLORS IN JAPANESE (NOUNS)

EnglishJapaneseFuriganaromaji
red赤/レッドあかAka/Reddo
orange橙色/オレンジだいだいいろDaidaiiro/Orenji
yellow黄色/イエローきいろKiiro/iero-
green緑/グリーンみどりMidori/Guri-n
blue青/ブルーあおAo/Buru-
purple紫/パープルむらさきMurasaki/Pa-puru
pink桃色/ピンクももいろMomoiro/Pinku
brown茶色/ブラウンちゃいろChairo/Buraun
gray灰色/グレイはいいろHaiiro/Gurei
black黒/ブラックくろKuro/Burakku
white白/ホワイトしろShiro/Howaito
Colors in Japanese
  • Purple in Japanese, it is better to say Murasaki.
  • Red in Japanese, it is better to say Aka.
  • Green in Japanese, it is better to say Midori.
  • Black in Japanese, it is better to say Kuro.
  • White in Japanese, it is better to say Shiro.
  • Blue in Japanese, it is better to say Ao.
  • Yellow in Japanese, it is better to say Kiiro.

This way they will understand you much better in a conversation.

These words above are nouns that refer to different colors. As a result, the particle “の(no)” is used when describing the color of something.

If you are not familiar with Japanese particles, take a look at this post.

Now let’s look at the basic sentence pattern for describing colors is: color + の + subject

Example 1: みどりの窓口(まどぐち)
Midori no madoguchi
Green window (usually referring to a train station ticket office in Japan).

Example 2: 紫(むらさき)の靴下(くつした)
Murasaki no kutsushita
Purple socks

red in Japanese
Origami paper colors in Japanese

JAPANESE ADJECTIVES TO DESCRIBE COLORS

Color can also be described by adjectives. Surprisingly, there are only 5 colors that will become an adjective when “い” is added directly to the back. As well explained above.

EnglishJapaneseFuriganaRomaji
red赤いあかいAkai
blue青いあおいAoi
black黒いくろいKuroi
white白いしろいShiroi
Furigana basic color table
yellow黄色いきいろいkiiroi
Sometimes you will see kiiro and sometimes you will see kiiroi but it is the same thing.

Why are these colors so special? It is because these were the basic forms of color in the ancient Japanese language. Each color was broadly categorized and these 5 colors have remained so ever since.

In Japanese, adjectives are conjugated. Ours in Spanish are not. What is red is red, we don’t conjugate it to make it red, so ours will always be: it was red, it wasn’t red, it is red…

In Japanese it would be like:

Example 1: あおい海(うみ), Aoi umi, meaning blue sea.

Example 2: 海(うみ)はあおいです, umi wa aoi desu, meaning the sea is blue.

Let’s look at other examples and cases:

  • Present: 青い– aoi – is blue.
  • Present Negative: 青くない – aokunai – not blue
  • Past: 青かった – aokatta – was blue
  • Negative Past: 青くなかった – aokunakatta – was not blue

There is 1 more color that can become an adjective . Why didn’t I put them together with the above 5 colors? This is because although it means brown color, “茶” cannot stand alone when used as colors.

It has to be put together with the word “色 (color iro) to become nouns for brown. As a result, when it becomes adjective, it is “茶色い” instead of “茶い”.

purple in Japanese
Purple in Japanese

HOW TO SAY OTHER COLORS IN JAPANESE

Here we practice more Japanese colors, remember that it will not be very extensive, since it is necessary to go little by little with the colors, being so many, anyway you do not need the 500 colors, with knowing about 30-50 you already know more than many. The other hundreds of colors are used in Japanese painting and in kimonos and colored threads.

EnglishJapaneseFuriganaRomaji
silver銀/シルバーぎんGinebra/Shiruba-
gold金/ゴールドきんKin/Go-rudo
rainbow color虹色にじいろNijiiro
light blue水色みずいろMizuiro
navy blue紺色/ネービーこんいろKoniro/Nei-bi-
purple紫/パープルむらさきMurasaki/Pa-puru
yellowish green黄緑きみどりKimidori
grayベージュはいいろ /
グレイ
Haiiro/Gurei
Other Japanese colors: gold, silver, rainbow…

yellow in Japanese
Yellow in Japanese (Ginkgo Biloba leaves)

I told you before, that I would put a pdf, so if you want it, click on pdf of colors in Japanese.

As I told you before we are going to start doing the color exercises in Japanese, you can print them or do the interactive ones below.

To access the downloadable color exercises in Japanese and print them, click on the link. There is Hiragana to practice with them and a word search to find them. We hope you like them.

We are about to finish the lesson on colors in Japanese. To finish, please complete the interactive exercises below.

If you liked it, leave 5 stars when voting, and if you want to tell us what score you got. Courage, if you study, you learn.


I hope you liked the article on Japanese colors.

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We are lovers and specialists in Japan, one of us with a master's degree in Japanese culture, studying in Japan and Spain, also with Japanese language course with JLPT N3 (Noken 3) ofical qualification and superior qualification of tourist guide. We are a family of 5 members, and our 3 daughters are named Yuna, Yui and Yuki in honor of Japan, we love to travel (I have even traveled to Japan pregnant and with a baby on occasion) so we can bring you not only to Japan more otaku and cultural, but the face that not everyone teaches, traveling with children to Japan and places to visit with them.We love Japan, its culture, its people, its language, its cities, its small towns, its nature, its food, its anime and manga, its souvenirs... EVERYTHING ABOUT JAPAN!We invite you to see the traditional Japan and the secret Japan on our website and our Youtube.We are All About Japan: Your best travel guide to Japan
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