Colors in Polish

The basic colors in Polish are czerwony (red), niebieski (blue), zielony (green), żółty (yellow), czarny (black) and biały (white). They are adjectives, so the ending changes with the noun: czerwony samochód, czerwona sukienka, czerwone jabłko.

Basic colors in Polish

These twelve words cover almost every color you will need in daily life. Polish colors are adjectives, and dictionaries list them in the masculine singular form, which ends in -y or -i. That is the form you see below. The word for color itself is kolor (KO-lor), a masculine noun. A more literary word is barwa.

More colors: shades you see in shops

Clothes, paint and car websites use many more names. Most are formed from a noun plus -owy: krem (cream) gives kremowy, mięta (mint) gives miętowy. Once you know the pattern you can guess many of them.

Two color words never change their ending: khaki and blond. They usually come after the noun: spodnie khaki (khaki trousers), włosy blond or blond włosy (blond hair).

Color adjectives agree with the noun

A Polish adjective takes the gender and number of its noun. Masculine nouns take -y (or -i after k and g), feminine nouns take -a, and neuter nouns take -e. In the plural there are two forms: one for groups of men or mixed groups of people (masculine personal), and -e for everything else.

• To jest czerwony samochód.
  This is a red car. (samochód is masculine)
• Kupiłam czerwoną sukienkę.
  I bought a red dress. (sukienka is feminine, accusative)
• Jem czerwone jabłko.
  I'm eating a red apple. (jabłko is neuter)
• Mam nowe czerwone buty.
  I have new red shoes. (plural, not people)

The masculine personal plural

The men's plural form only appears when the noun is a group of male people or a mixed group. With colors that mostly means hair color or team names. The last consonant often softens: rudy becomes rudzi, szary becomes szarzy, niebieski becomes niebiescy. The Polish national team is called Biało-czerwoni, "the white-and-reds", after the flag.

• Rudzi chłopcy grają w piłkę.
  The red-haired boys are playing football.
• Siwi panowie siedzą w parku.
  Grey-haired men are sitting in the park.
• Biało-czerwoni wygrali mecz.
  The Polish team won the match.

Colors in other cases

Color adjectives also change with the case of the noun, just like every other adjective. You will meet the genitive after szukam (I'm looking for), the accusative after most verbs, and the locative after w (in). The full singular pattern for czerwony looks like this:

In the masculine accusative, things keep czerwony and living beings take czerwonego: mam czerwony rower (I have a red bike), but mam czarnego kota (I have a black cat). Every word on this site has its own page with all its forms, so you can check any color there.

• Szukam czerwonej sukienki.
  I'm looking for a red dress.
• Lubię czarną kawę.
  I like black coffee.
• Mieszkam w białym domu.
  I live in a white house.
• Jeżdżę czerwonym samochodem.
  I drive a red car.

Asking about colors

To ask what color something is, use jaki (what kind) in the right gender, or the fixed phrase jakiego koloru (of what color). In shops, w kolorze plus the adjective in the locative means "in a color".

• – Jakiego koloru jest twój samochód? – Srebrny.
  "What color is your car?" "Silver."
• Ta bluzka jest za jasna. Czy jest w ciemniejszym kolorze?
  This blouse is too light. Do you have it in a darker color?

Light, dark and in-between shades

For light and dark shades, put jasno- (light) or ciemno- (dark) in front of the color and write it as one word: jasnoniebieski, ciemnozielony. Only the last part changes its ending: jasnoniebieska koszula, ciemnozielone drzwi. On their own, jasny and ciemny mean light and dark: jasne włosy (fair hair), ciemny pokój (a dark room).

When two separate colors appear side by side, use a hyphen: biało-czerwony (white and red), czarno-biały (black and white). The Polish flag is flaga biało-czerwona, and an old film is film czarno-biały.

The ending -awy or -kawy works like English "-ish": czerwonawy (reddish), zielonkawy (greenish).

Hair, eyes and color words for people

Hair and eyes have their own habits. Red hair is rude, never czerwone, and grey hair is siwe, not szare. Hazel eyes are piwne oczy, literally "beer-colored eyes". Polish also has nouns for people by hair color.

• Ona ma zielone oczy i rude włosy.
  She has green eyes and red hair.
• Mój tata jest już siwy.
  My dad's hair has already gone grey.

Color nouns and verbs

Each basic color has a noun form and many have a verb meaning "to turn that color". You will see these in books, weather reports and descriptions of nature.

Color idioms Poles use

Colors appear in many everyday Polish expressions. These are the ones you are most likely to hear.

• Nie mam zielonego pojęcia, gdzie są klucze.
  I have no idea where the keys are.
• Z fizyki jestem zupełnie zielony.
  I know nothing at all about physics.
• Chcę to mieć czarno na białym.
  I want to have it in writing.
• Zrobił się czerwony jak burak.
  He went as red as a beetroot.
• Mój sąsiad to prawdziwa złota rączka.
  My neighbor can fix anything.