Die Farbe means colors in German, mostly used as adjectives, for example: a red ball, a blue sky, and so on. But adjectives such as colors, are often also have nominal forms or are combined with other words to form new nouns and even verbs. The colors and shapes vocabularies are tested in the Goethe A1 exam. (Also read: Geothe Zertifikat German A1 exam)
Colors in German nouns
Let’s look at how die Farbe (colors) are used as nouns, and the German colors are all neuter (das).
| Die Farbe | The colors |
|---|---|
| das Blau | blue |
| das Braun | brown |
| das Gelb | yellow |
| das Grau | grey |
| das Grün | green |
| das Rot | red |
| das Schwarz | black |
| das Weiß | white |
| das Beige | beige |
| das Indigoblau | indigo |
| das Lila | lilac, purple |
| das Orange | orange |
| das Rosa | pink |
| das Türkis | turquoise |
| das Silbern | silver |
| das Golden | gold |
Examples of how German colors can be used in the noun forms.
- Das Braun steht dir nicht.
- Brown doesn’t look good on you.
Shapes in German
Here are basic geometric shapes in German. The German shapes are relatively easier to remember than those of English.
| die Formen | The shapes |
|---|---|
| der Stern | star |
| der Kreis | circle |
| das Oval | oval |
| das Herz | heart |
| der Würfel | cube |
| die Kugel | sphere |
| der Kegel | cone |
| die Raute | rhombus |
| der Zylinder | cylinder |
| das Rechteck | rectangle |
| das Dreieck | triangle |
| das Viereck/Quadrat | square |
| das Fünfeck | pentagon |
| das Sechseck | hexagon |
| das Siebeneck | heptagon |
| das Achteck | octagon |
Example:
- Welche Form hat ein Teller?
- Kreis
German colors as adjectives
When German colors begin with a lowercase, they function as adjectives (Note: All nouns in German begin with an uppercase).
The colors as adjectives decline, meaning they must agree with the gender, number of the noun.
Example:
- ein roter Pullover
- einen roten Pullover
German Colors with prefixes
Colors in German can be modified by two important prefixes: dunkel- (dark) and hell- (bright, light):
- dunkelblau (dark blue)
- dunkelbraun (dark brown)
- hellblau (bright blue)
- hellgelb (bright yellow)
Check out German Numbers Pronunciation.