Colors in Italian
Italian splits blue into two everyday words, which English does not. Beyond that, the only rule is which colors change their ending and which never do.
The basic colors
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rosso
ROS-soh
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red
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arancione
ah-ran-CHOH-neh
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orange
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giallo
JAL-loh
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yellow
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verde
VEHR-deh
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green
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blu
bloo
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blue
Dark blue. Never changes its ending
-
azzurro
ad-DZOOR-roh
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sky blue
A separate colour in Italian, not a shade of blu
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viola
VYOH-lah
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purple
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rosa
ROH-zah
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pink
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marrone
mar-ROH-neh
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brown
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nero
NEH-roh
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black
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bianco
BYAN-koh
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white
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grigio
GREE-joh
-
grey
Lighter and darker
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verde chiaro
VEHR-deh KYAH-roh
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light green
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verde scuro
VEHR-deh SKOO-roh
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dark green
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rosso scuro
ROS-soh SKOO-roh
-
dark red
Blu, azzurro, and which colors change
Italian treats azzurro and blu as different colours rather than shades of one. Azzurro is the sky and the national football shirt; blu is navy.
Colors ending in o change for gender and number: rosso, rossa, rossi, rosse.
Colors ending in e change only for number: verde becomes verdi, marrone becomes marroni.
Blu, rosa and viola never change at all, because they are borrowed or come from the names of flowers: due macchine blu, two blue cars.
The colour goes after the noun: una macchina rossa.
- una macchina rossaa red car
- gli occhi azzurriblue eyes
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