Lesson 10: Colors
Colors are a great way to start describing things — and they teach you one of the most important habits in Hebrew: adjectives change to match the noun.
The basic colors
Each color has a masculine and a feminine form. The masculine is the “dictionary” form.
Colors (m. / f.)
| אָדוֹם / אֲדֻמָּה | adom / aduma | red |
| כָּחֹל / כְּחֻלָּה | kachol / kchula | blue |
| יָרֹק / יְרֻקָּה | yarok / yeruka | green |
| צָהֹב / צְהֻבָּה | tsahov / tsehuba | yellow |
| שָׁחוֹר / שְׁחוֹרָה | shachor / shchora | black |
| לָבָן / לְבָנָה | lavan / levana | white |
Grammar: adjectives agree and come after the noun
Two rules to remember:
- The adjective comes after the noun — the opposite of English.
- It agrees in gender with that noun.
So with a masculine noun like בַּיִת (bayit, house) you use the masculine color, and with a feminine noun like מְכוֹנִית (mechonit, car) you use the feminine color:
| Hebrew | Romanization | English |
|---|---|---|
| בַּיִת לָבָן | bayit lavan | a white house |
| מְכוֹנִית אֲדֻמָּה | mechonit aduma | a red car |
| חֻלְצָה כְּחֻלָּה | chultsa kchula | a blue shirt |
At the shop
שָׁלוֹם! אֵיזֶה צֶבַע אַתְּ רוֹצָה?
shalom! eize tseva at rotsa?
Hello! Which color would you like?
אֲנִי רוֹצָה חֻלְצָה כְּחֻלָּה.
ani rotsa chultsa kchula.
I’d like a blue shirt.
יֵשׁ לָנוּ גַּם חֻלְצָה אֲדֻמָּה וְחֻלְצָה לְבָנָה.
yesh lanu gam chultsa aduma ve’chultsa levana.
We also have a red shirt and a white shirt.
יָפֶה! אֲנִי רוֹצָה אֶת הַכְּחֻלָּה, בְּבַקָּשָׁה.
yafe! ani rotsa et hakchula, bevakasha.
Nice! I’ll take the blue one, please.
Note: חֻלְצָה (chultsa, shirt) is feminine, so every color describing it takes the ‑a ending: kchula, aduma, levana.
Vocabulary
Nouns
| צֶבַע | tseva | color |
| חֻלְצָה | chultsa | shirt |
| בַּיִת | bayit | house |
| מְכוֹנִית | mechonit | car |
Adjectives
| יָפֶה / יָפָה | yafe / yafa | beautiful, nice (m. / f.) |
Useful words
| יֵשׁ | yesh | there is / we have |
| גַּם | gam | also, too |
| אֶת | et | (marks a definite object — “the …”) |