In this video, you can learn colors in Italian for beginners from Guatapé, Colombia. It lies a little outside of Medellín, Colombia.
It is a colorful town with a unique charm and history. There is even a rock where you can climb to the top for a fantastic view of the Colombian countryside.
The town is famous for its vibrantly colored streets and buildings. I read that Guatapé is the second most colorful town in the world.
Some colorful Italian towns include Burano, just outside of Venice, Italy. Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, and Positano are also known for their unique charm and colorful streets.
Guatapé is a great place to go over some colors in Italian as you can see from the video.
When dealing with colors in the Italian language, you must keep in mind that a color will fall into one of three groups. Colors are adjectives, and in the Italian language, adjectives must match in gender and number to the noun they are describing.
Three Italian Groupings for Colors
- Group 1: The colors must match the gender and number (singular or plural of the noun).
- Group 2: The colors in this group are neutral, meaning gender doesn’t matter, but the number does.
- Group 3: This is an invariable group where gender and number do not matter.
Examples of Group 1 Colors in Italian – Normal Case:
Azzurro – sky blue
Bianco – White
Giallo – Yellow
Grigio – Grey
Nero – Black
Rosso – Red
Example usage for colors in this group:
Una casa gialla – a yellow house (feminine singular example)
Tre case gialle – three yellow houses (feminine plural example)
Un piatto giallo – a yellow plate (masculine singular example)
Cinque piatti gialli – five yellow plates (masculine plural example)
As you can see from the examples above, there are four different scenarios for the color in Italian depending on the sex of the noun and the number. The last letter of the word yellow (giall?) will change depending on the scenario.
Examples of Group 2 colors in Italian – Neuter Case
Verde – Green
Marrone – Brown
Example usage:
Una foglia verde – a green leaf (a singular example)
Tre foglie verdi – three green leaves (a plural example)
For this group, the sex of the noun does not matter. However, the number will determine which color variation to use. You can see that the e will change to i to indicate plural.
Examples of Group 3 colors in Italian – Invariable Case
Arancione – orange
Blu – blue
Rosa – pink
Viola – purple
Example usage:
Una farfalla blu – a blue butterfly
Quattro farfalle blu – four blue butterflies
In this grouping there is no change for number or for sex of the Italian noun. The word for blue in Italian is simply blu in all scenarios.
Italian Vocabulary Related to Video on Italian Colors
Bench – panca
Taxi – taxi
Multi-colored taxi – un taxi multicolorato
Umbrella – ombrello
Colorful umbrellas – ombrelli colorati
Building – edificio
Colorful building – edificio colorato
Sheep – pecora
White sheep – pecora bianca
The town of one thousand colors – la città dei mille colori
Sky blue – azzurro
Light Green – verde chiaro
It’s interesting to note that the letter “x” in Italian technically does not exist. Or in other words, it is not a part of the Italian alphabet. However, words of foreign origin, such as taxi, will use the letter x. The way to pronounce the letter “x” in Italian is “eeks”.
View my other video post from Medellín discussing how to say you’re welcome in Italian.
