Introduction: Adding Colour to Your Dutch

Colours are adjectives used to describe the appearance of things. Learning the basic colour names in Dutch allows you to be much more specific in your descriptions.

Common Colours

Here are the essential colours to know at A1 level:

• rood = red
• blauw = blue
• geel = yellow
• groen = green
• wit = white
• zwart = black
• oranje = orange
• paars = purple
• bruin = brown
• grijs = grey / gray
• roze = pink

• licht- can be added for "light" (e.g., lichtblauw = light blue)
• donker- can be added for "dark" (e.g., donkergroen = dark green)

Using Colours as Adjectives

Since colours are adjectives, they follow the standard adjective agreement rules when placed before a noun:

• They take an -e ending before de-words (singular) and all plural nouns.
• They take an -e ending before het-words when preceded by een, geen, possessives (mijn, etc.), or demonstratives (dit, dat).
• They do not usually take an -e before het-words when used indefinitely (without het, een, mijn, etc.).
• When used after zijn (to be), they do not take an -e.

Examples:

• Before de-words:
• de rode auto (the red car)
• een groene fiets (a green bicycle)
• zwarte schoenen (black shoes - plural)

• Before het-words:
• het blauwe huis (the blue house)
• een geel boek (a yellow book) - Note: no -e here for het-word + een! This is an exception for colours/materials.
• mijn witte T-shirt (my white T-shirt) - No -e here either.
• Correction/Refinement: The rule about adding -e before het-words with een/mijn/etc. is less strict for adjectives describing materials or inherent qualities like colour. Often, the -e is omitted in these cases. For A1, it's safer to learn the common combinations.

• Simplified View for Colours: Add -e before de-words and plurals. Usually no -e before het-words.
• de rode auto (the red car)
• rode auto's (red cars)
• het rode huis (the red house) - add -e after het
• een rood huis (a red house) - NO -e after een for colours
• rood huis (red house) - NO -e

• After zijn:
• De auto is rood. (The car is red.)
• Het huis is blauw. (The house is blue.)
• De schoenen zijn zwart. (The shoes are black.)

Asking About Colour

• Welke kleur is [noun]? (What colour is [noun]?)
• Welke kleur is de auto? (What colour is the car?)
• Welke kleur heeft het huis? (What colour does the house have? / What colour is the house?)

Learn the basic colour names. Remember they act like adjectives. When placed before a noun, add -e for de-words and plurals. For het-words, the -e is less common after een or possessives when dealing with colours, but is added after het/dit/dat. When used after zijn, no -e is added.