Color rojo, blanco…. No color roja

How many times have you struggled with Spanish articles?  Surely many of you still find them very difficult.   For this very reason, here we give you some handy tips …especially when it comes to colours.

When the word ‘ color’  is followed by a term referring to a specific color, for example ‘ rojo’, this last word is always MASCULINE. Let’s  see  the following example:  ‘  El pintalabios es de color rojo’ ( The lipstick is red colour).

 As you can see, the word ‘ color’ is necessary associated with the masculine gender.  So, do not get muddled with tricky sentences like ‘ La moto es de color negro’ or ‘ camisa de color blanco’, the word ‘color’ always leads to a masculine term.

The root of this misunderstanding relies on simpler expressions, such as: ‘ prendas amarillas’, ‘ bolsa morada’ or ‘ motocicleta morada’.  These short sentences sum up one of the most basic rules in Spanish language: Both noun and adjective must agree with gender and number.

Let’s compare and contrast these two ways of expressing colours:

• On the one hand, we have the one involving the word ‘color’. For example: ‘ Mi prima tiene el coche de color amarillo’. ( My cousin has a yellow car). As we have seen before, the word following ‘color’ is always masculine.
• Then, we have the shorter way of expressing colour, that is,  noun and adjectives coinciding with gender and number. For instance:  ‘El pelo rubio’ ( the blonde hair) ‘ La risa bonita’ ( the beautiful  laughter) or ‘ El niño malo’ ( the naughty boy).

…And don’t forget… If you want to study these rules, you are welcome to Quorum Spanish Language School in Nerja (Málaga).