You will name the basic colours, say a light or dark shade, and ask what colour something is.
The idea
A colour word is an adjective and stays unchanged: kırmızı, mavi, yeşil, sarı, siyah, beyaz, turuncu, mor, pembe, gri, kahverengi. For a shade, put açık (light) or koyu (dark) in front: açık mavi, koyu yeşil. To ask, say Bu ne renk?
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| kırmızı | red |
| mavi | blue |
| yeşil | green |
| sarı | yellow |
| siyah | black |
| beyaz | white |
| turuncu | orange |
| mor | purple |
| pembe | pink |
| gri | grey |
| kahverengi | brown |
| açık | light (shade) |
| koyu | dark (shade) |
Examples
- Bugün gökyüzü açık mavi.The sky is light blue today.The shade word açık (light) stands in front of the colour and takes no ending. No word for "is" is needed: Gökyüzü açık mavi is a full sentence.
- Annem koyu yeşil bir çanta alıyor.My mother is buying a dark green bag.
- Bahçede pembe, mor ve turuncu çiçekler var.There are pink, purple and orange flowers in the garden.The three colours stay bare. Only the noun çiçekler carries the plural ending.
- Bu çanta ne renk?What colour is this bag?
- Muz sarı, çim yeşil.The banana is yellow, the grass is green.
- Beyaz peynir ve siyah zeytin.White cheese and black olives.
- Kahverengi ayakkabılarım eski.My brown shoes are old.Kahverengi is one word. The plural and the possessive go on the noun only: ayakkabı + lar + ım.
- Karadeniz'e gidiyoruz.We are going to the Black Sea.Kara is an older word for black that lives on in names: Karadeniz. White works the same way with ak: Akdeniz (Mediterranean). In everyday speech use siyah and beyaz.
- Yeşili seviyorum.I like green.When a colour word is used as a name for the colour, it takes endings like a noun: yeşil + i. After a final vowel a y joins in: kırmızıyı.
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Watch out
The shade word comes first, not last: açık mavi is light blue, while mavi açık is not how it is said. Brown is a single word, kahverengi, not two. And sarı and kırmızı contain the dotless ı; written with i they are misspelt.
Try it yourself
What colour is a tomato? Type the Turkish colour.
Show answer or example answer
kırmızı
kırmızı: Ne renk? asks for the colour, and the reply is the bare colour word. Every vowel is a dotless ı, so the dotted kirmizi is a different spelling and does not count.
Grass is green. Type the colour.
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yeşil
yeşil: Çim yeşil needs no word for "is", so the colour alone completes the sentence. The ş writes the sh sound, and the vowel is a dotted i.
Say "dark blue": shade word first, then the colour.
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koyu mavi
koyu mavi: the shade word koyu (dark) comes first and the colour second, with no ending on either.
Type the Turkish word for "brown".
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kahverengi
kahverengi: it is written as one word, made from kahve (coffee) and rengi (its colour), so a space in the middle is wrong.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
What colour is a tomato? Type the Turkish colour.
Grass is green. Type the colour.
Say "dark blue": shade word first, then the colour.
Type the Turkish word for "brown".
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
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Look at your clothes and write three phrases such as koyu mavi gömlek or beyaz çorap. Check that the shade word comes first and that kahverengi stays one word.