Colours in Basque

Overview

Learning colour words is a fun and practical part of A1 Basque. Colours in Basque function as adjectives, which means they follow the noun and the article suffix attaches to the colour word (the last element). So "the red car" is auto gorria — with gorria carrying the definite article -a.

Basque colour words are straightforward, and since Basque has no grammatical gender, each colour has only one form. You simply need to learn the base word and apply the standard adjective rules you already know.

Some colour words are native Basque (gorria, urdina, berdea, zuria, beltza, horia), while others are borrowed from Spanish or French (arrosa, laranja, marroia). Both types follow the same grammar rules.

How It Works

Basque	English	With article (-a)
gorri	red	gorria
urdin	blue	urdina
berde	green	berdea
hori	yellow	horia
zuri	white	zuria
beltz	black	beltza
arrosa	pink	arrosa
laranja	orange	laranja
marroi	brown	marroia
gris	grey	grisa

Pattern: noun + colour + article

Singular	Plural	Meaning
auto gorria	auto gorriak	the red car / the red cars
etxe zuria	etxe zuriak	the white house / the white houses
katu beltza	katu beltzak	the black cat / the black cats

Examples in Context

Basque	English	Note
Auto gorria dauka.	He/She has a red car.	Colour after noun
Zerua urdina da.	The sky is blue.	Predicate use
Belarra berdea da.	The grass is green.	Nature description
Katu beltza ikusi dut.	I have seen a black cat.	Object with colour
Arrosa polita da.	Pink is pretty.	Colour as subject
Etxe zuria nirea da.	The white house is mine.	Identifying by colour
Galtza beltzak jantzi ditu.	He/She wore black trousers.	Plural with colour
Ile horia du.	He/She has blond hair.	Describing hair
Sagar gorri bat nahi dut.	I want a red apple.	Indefinite with bat
Zer koloretakoa da?	What colour is it?	Asking about colour

Common Mistakes

Placing the colour before the noun

• Wrong: gorria autoa
• Right: auto gorria
• Why: Like all Basque adjectives, colours follow the noun.

Adding the article to both noun and colour

• Wrong: autoa gorria
• Right: auto gorria
• Why: The article suffix only goes on the last element of the noun phrase — the colour adjective.

Confusing hori (yellow) with hori (that)

• Wrong: Misunderstanding hori in context
• Right: Hori horia da. (That is yellow.) — two different words
• Why: Hori (demonstrative) means "that," while hori (adjective) means "yellow." Context and position make the meaning clear.

Practice Tips

1. Look around your room and name the colour of every object: liburua gorria da, mahaia marroia da, hormak zuriak dira. This builds colour vocabulary naturally.
2. Go shopping (or pretend to) and describe items by colour: Galtza beltza nahi dut (I want black trousers), Alkandora urdina erosiko dut (I will buy a blue shirt).

Related Concepts

• Basic Adjectives