When do use the noun/adjective with colors?
I need an explanation when using colors when do you use the adjective and when do you use the noun. i didnt understand the reference sections was trying to say. Anybody can help i would appreciate it.
6 Answers
Hello amigos:
There are colors (primary azul, rojo, amarillo; and secondary violet, orange, green; and a lot of derivate colors) and there are nouns used to recall their colors: cherry, gold, straw.
What seems to puzzle swtw1219 is a grammar rule. When you use a true color, you have to coordinate the gender and the number. Examples: Un sombrero rojo, una sombrilla roja, unos zapatos rojos, unas sandalias rojas. This rule applies to primary colors and secondary ones: Un muro anaranjado, una puerta anaranjada, unos pantalones anaranjados; unas faldas anaranjadas.
But when the color of an object has to be precise, you cannot only say, for example, a yellow blouse. It may be mustard yellow (color de mostaza) or corn yellow (color del maís) or butter yellow (color de la mantequilla).
These colors are nouns before being adjectives. You can use them any time but they remain invariables. Una blusa color de maís (or una blusa maís) but imposible to have una blusa maísa; unos pantalones color de chocolate (or pantalones chocolate) but not pantalones chocolates.
So nouns can be used for color adjectives but they remain invariables as if they were not adjectives. Latin languages like Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese do have complicate grammar rules don't they?
Hi swtw1219,
If I am not mistaken, the reference article to which you are referring is this one: colours: nouns and adjectives
This article was originally posted by a non-native speaker, and personally, I am not sure that some of the claims made therein are reflective of actual usage. For example, the following claim was made:
However, some colours in Spanish are used only as nouns.
Common Spanish colours - nouns:
beige, beis — beige
cereza — cherry-colored
chocolate — chocolate-colored
esmerelda — emerald
grana — dark red
humo — smoky
lila — lilac
malva — mauve
mostaza — mustard-colored
naranja — orange
oro — gold
paja — straw-colored
rosa — pink
turquesa — turquoise
violeta — violet
The idea that the colors listed above are never used as adjectives does not seem to stand up to scrutiny. All of the following are excerpted from literary sources and demonstrate the adjectival use of one of the colors listed above:
From the Spanish journal el Viajero:
La calle principal, recorrida arriba y abajo por los tranvías, donde se aprecia el añejo esplendor de la ciudad: grandes edificios color beis con contraventanas blancas...
From the Ecuadorian journal La Hora
Sus fuentes principales “son los alimentos de color naranja (papaya, mango, melón, zanahoria…) y el hígado, la yema de huevo, la mantequilla, entre otras”
From the book Cómo pelear con su cónyuge by Rafael Olivera Figueroa
Karlos murmuró entre dientes: "¡me lleva la fregada!", para después gritar encolerizado:
—¿Y qué me pongo? ¿Los calzones rosas?
From the Spanish Journal el Diario de Mallorca
Si se quiere prescindir de la corbata, los fulares en tonos gris marengo, azules o purple son la mejor opción".
Also, consulting the DRAE reveals that many of these are used adjectively, for example:
Lila:
3). adj. De color morado claro, como la flor de la lila. U. t. c. s. m.
Turquesa:
2). adj. Dicho de un color: Azul verdoso, como el de la turquesa. U. t. c. s. m.
3). adj. Que tiene color turquesa.
The idea that the colors listed above are never used as adjectives does not seem to stand up to scrutiny.
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Totally agree. I've used all those colors as adjectives many times. I don't know such a rule about some colors only being used as nouns. The only one from that list I may not use is "oro", because I would use "dorado" as the adjective, but still I don't believe "oro" would be wrong.
For example, there are two words for "orange", one for the color, and one for the fruit. Anaranjado y naranja 
Los colores (amarillo, azul, rojo, verde) son normalmente adjetivos y normalmente van después del sustantivo. También concuerdan con el sustantivo en género (masculino/femenino) y número (singular/plural):
Pantalón azul, camisa blanca y zapatos negros.
Pero también pueden usarse como sustantivos. Por ejemplo:
El azul, el amarillo y el rojo son los colores primarios.
El cian, el magenta, el amarillo y el negro son los colores estándar en el sistema de impresión en cuatricromía CMYK.
Mi color favorito es el rojo.
El amarillo es un color cálido, el azul es un color frío.
Algunos colores provienen del color de algunos sustantivos: Por ejemplo:
Café, oro, plata, violeta, rosa, naranja, esmeralda, turquesa...
Zapatos café, suéter rosa.
En estos casos los adjetivos no concuerdan en género ni en número con el sustantivo. Por ejemplo:
Zapatos café, bolsa café.
Vaso naranja. Lentes violeta.
No se dice por lo tanto zapatos cafés, lentes violetas, vaso naranjo...
The formula would be:
Noun + color, since adjectives tend to go after the noun in Spanish.
So the green car --> el carro verde
The blue dog --> el perro azul
The red watch --> El reloj rojo
