Now is the time to remember watercolors and maybe get them out again. What better way to remember shapes and colors in German than by drawing them. Though a pronunciation guide is provided for each new word, revise standard German vowel and consonant pronunciation as well. Try the exercise at the end of the article, maybe with a friend or fellow student, to apply and absorb the learned material right away.
Primary Colors in German - die Grundfarben
According to the standard color wheel, red, blue and yellow are the primary colors. To make things a bit easier, the definite article for all colors is the same in German – das. But note that as a noun, namely with an article in front, the name of the color is capitalized. When combined with the word color (Farbe), the article changes to die because it refers to die Farbe.
rot – red
blau – blue
gelb – yellow
- das Rot
- das Blau
- das Gelb
die Farbe Rot – the color red [dee fahbuh roht]
die Farbe Blau – the color blue [dee fahbuh blouh]
die Farbe Gelb – the color yellow [dee fahbuh gelp]
Colors of the Rainbow – die Regenbogenfarben
Everyone loves rainbows and actually picturing one when learning colors will help. The terms prismatic colors or iridescent colors also translate as Regenbogenfarben in German. Note that though orange is spelled the same in German, the pronunciation is different. There are two names for violet in German: the scientifically correct violett and the colloquial term lila.
- rot – red
- orange – orange [ohranksh]
- gelb – yellow
- grün – green [gruihn]
- blau – blue
- violett oder lila – violet or purple [veeohlett odah leelah]
A List of Other German Colors – weitere Farben auf Deutsch
Notice that the r in the middle of a word and before a consonant is often not pronounced but is used to stretch the preceding consonant: schwarz [shwahz].
- pink oder rosa – pink or magenta [pink odah rohzah]
- braun – brown [brouhn]
- grau – gray [grouh]
- schwarz – black [shwahz]
- weiß – white [wyhs]
- silber – silver [zilbah]
- gold – gold [gollt]
For colors used as adjective - as in “a purple shirt” - some color names are used as is in German plus the right inflected form depending on the gender of the noun, for example ein violettes Hemd. Because das Hemd is neuter, violett changes to violettes. Other color adjectives allow for a second option by adding the suffix -farben [fahbun] in German, for example goldfarben for golden. It is not used for all colors like the primary ones but certainly for these:
- silberfarben or silbern
- goldfarben or golden
- pinkfarben or pink
- orangefarben or orange
- lilafarben or lila
A List of Shapes in German – Formen auf Deutsch
Unlike colors, shapes in German have different definite articles that need to be learned together with the nouns. When using the indefinite article, der and das correspond to ein and die to eine. What would the list below look like with indefinite articles (answer below)?
- das Dreieck – the triangle
- der Halbkreis – the semicircle [deah halpkryhs]
- der Kreis – the circle [deah kryhs]
- der Halbmond/die Mondsichel – the crescent [deah halpmohnt/dee mohntzeekhal]
- das Oval/die Eiform – the oval/egg shape [das ovahl/dee eyfoahm]
- das Quadrat – the square [das kvadraht]
- das Rechteck – the rectangle [das rekhtek]
- der Stern – the star [deah shteahn]
When talking about a particular shape, for example when expressing that something is shaped like a circle or egg-shaped, one would add the suffix -förmig [feahmik] in German. Notice that certain adjectives, like triangular, are irregular as in English.
- dreieckig – triangular [dreyehkikh]
- halbkreisförmig – semicircular
- kreisförmig - circular
- halbmondförmig/sichelförmig – crescent-/sickle-shaped
- oval/eiförmig – oval/egg-shaped
- quadratisch – square [kvadrahtish]
- rechteckig – rectangular [rekhtekikh]
- sternförmig – star-shaped
Exercise: Combining Colors, Shapes and Numbers
Use the article for beginners on How to Count in German for the following exercise. According to the structures below, try to combine singular adjective + noun first and then plural adjective + noun.
Neuter – sächlich
- das rote Quadrat
- ein rotes Quadrat
- zwei rote Quadrate
Feminine – weiblich
- die grüne Eiform
- eine grüne Eiform
- drei grüne Eiformen
Masculine – männlich
- der weiße Kreis
- ein weißer Kreis
- zehn weiße Kreise
Happy practicing!
(answer to the question above: ein Dreieck, ein Halbkreis, ein Kreis, ein Halbmond/eine Mondsichel, ein Oval/eine Eiform, ein Quadrat, ein Rechteck, ein Stern)
Colors will come in handy when learning German Easter vocabulary, too! Or how about learning to pronounce standard German first names?
