German · A1 · Everyday language
Colours all around in German
Spot and name colours with your child. Learn how to ask about colours and describe everyday things in simple German.
What you'll learn
- Ask what colour something is.
- Name common colours in German.
- Describe colours using ist (is).
- Talk about a favourite colour.
- Notice how colour adjectives change before a noun but stay unchanged after ist.
German phrases for colours all around
Welche Farbe hat das?
What colour is this?
A natural German question. Literally: “What colour does this have?” Point to an object as you ask.
Es ist rot.
It is red.
Rot stays unchanged after ist. When referring to a named object, German uses er, sie or es according to its grammatical gender.
Der Himmel ist blau.
The sky is blue.
The colour word blau comes after ist and has no adjective ending.
Ich mag Grün.
I like green.
Grün is capitalised here because it is used as the name of a colour, like a noun.
Eine gelbe Blume.
A yellow flower.
Before the feminine noun Blume, gelb becomes gelbe in this phrase.
Schwarz und weiß.
Black and white.
Und means “and”. Weiß ends with ß.
Schau dir den Regenbogen an.
Look at the rainbow.
A friendly instruction to one child. The verb anschauen splits into schau and an.
Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist Orange.
My favourite colour is orange.
Orange is capitalised here as the name of the favourite colour.
Hear these phrases and practise them
Tildi plays every phrase out loud, tests you in five-minute lessons and builds them into bedtime stories from your own picture books.
Try it free for 7 daysKey words
die Farbe
colour
Plural: die Farben.
rot
red
Use after ist without changing it: Es ist rot.
blau
blue
Try it when pointing to the sky.
grün
green
Write Grün when naming the colour as a noun: Ich mag Grün.
gelb
yellow
In eine gelbe Blume, the adjective takes -e.
schwarz
black
Pair it with weiß to describe black and white.
weiß
white
The letter ß represents an s sound.
orange
orange
As an adjective: Es ist orange. As a colour name: Ich mag Orange.
der Regenbogen
rainbow
Use den Regenbogen after anschauen because it is the object of the verb.
die Lieblingsfarbe
favourite colour
Lieblings- means “favourite” in compound nouns.
Colour adjectives after ist
To describe a noun's colour, use noun + ist + colour. The adjective follows the verb, not directly the noun, and has no added ending.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine noun | der + noun + ist + colour | Der Himmel ist blau. |
| Feminine noun | die + noun + ist + colour | Die Blume ist gelb. |
| Neuter noun | das + noun + ist + colour | Das Auto ist rot. |
Before a noun or used as a colour name
Before a noun, a colour adjective usually takes an ending. When the colour itself is used as a noun, capitalise it.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Before a feminine noun | eine + colour with -e + noun | Eine gelbe Blume. |
| Colour as a noun after mag | Ich mag + capitalised colour name | Ich mag Grün. |
| Naming a favourite colour | Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist + colour name | Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist Orange. |
More examples
Das Blatt ist grün.
The leaf is green.
Grün has no added ending after ist.
Die Sonne ist gelb.
The sun is yellow.
Try this while looking at a picture together.
Eine rote Blume.
A red flower.
Rot takes -e before Blume in this phrase.
Ich mag Blau.
I like blue.
Blau is a colour name used as a noun here.
Welche Farbe hat das Auto?
What colour is the car?
Replace das Auto with another object to practise the question.