Colors in Russian

Colors are some of the words you’ll utilize often when speaking Russian. You’ll be surprised how much you use color words to describe things on a daily basis. You can start new conversations too by talking about your favorite colors in Russian. Or perhaps you’re shopping and need to specify what you’re looking for.

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Resources for further reading:

Pronouncing colors in Russian

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

Rocket Record lets you perfect your Russian pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!

оранжевый

aranzhevyi

orange

жëлтый

zholtyi

yellow

синий

seenii

blue

красный

krasnyi

red

зелëный

zilionyi

green

чëрный

chornyi

black

коричневый

kareechnivyi

brown

розовый

rozavyi

pink

фиолетовый

fialetavyi

purple

белый

belyi

white

серый

seryi

gray

золотой

zalatoi

gold

серебрянный

sirebrinyi

silver

бронзовый

bronzavyi

bronze

разноцветный

raznatsvetnyi

multi-colored

радуга

raduga

rainbow

Мой любимый цвет…

Moi liubeemyi tsvet...

My favorite color is...

Remember that many colors in Russian are adjectives and change gender depending on the noun it’s describing. If the colour ends in ый (yi) it will change to an ая (aia) for a feminine word and to an ое (oe) for a neuter word.

Тhese examples illustrate how красный changes when followed by different gender nouns:

красная рубашка

krasnaia rubashka (f.)

the red shirt

красное вино

krasnae vino(n.)

red wine

See how the endings match? You’ve added a whole host of new words to your Russian vocabulary bank. I hope you enjoyed this lesson!

Here are a few recommended Russian lessons to try next!

До скорого! (da skorava)

Natalya Dubrov: Rocket Russian

Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement

Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!