Making Sense Of The Colors
“We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.” - John Locke
The words of the colors themselves aren’t too bad, but once you start using them you’ll see how confusing they can be. The problem is that different colors are different things. Some are considered mainly to be い adjectives. Some are mainly な adjectives. All of them are also considered to be nouns, too, depending on the situation (and some of them are only treated like nouns). It’s confusing, but if you remember these three rules it’ll be easier for you:
- Some of the colors are い adjectives (and of course, they have an い on the end to help you remember)
- All of the adjectives can be turned into nouns (and some are already ready to be a noun without change).
- Some are な adjectives (i.e. the ones with 真っ/まっ before the colors are the な adjectives)
We’ll go into more detail on each of these right now. You might want to take notes, some of these can be a bit tricky. As always, we’ll continue to use and review the colors as you go forward, but it’s still good for you to jot some of this down.
い Adjectives
There are five main い adjective colors. They are the three primary colors (red, blue, yellow) as well as black and white. Some might add brown (ちゃいろ) into this group, but it just fits so much better in the “noun” group that I’m going to leave it there. Just keep in mind that sometimes you’ll see ちゃいろい, though I think it’s uncommon enough not to have to think about right now. Let’s take a look at the い adjective words. First I’ll show them in “noun-mode” then I’ll show them in “い adjective mode.” These ones can be either or, depending on the situation (more on that in a bit).
あか (red) → あかい
あお (blue) → あおい
しろ (white) → しろい
くろ (black) → くろい
きいろ (yellow) → きいろい
The only “weird” one in this group is きいろ (yellow). Why? Because it has 色 (いろ) on it, which means color. All other colors that have いろ on them are in the noun group. If you just remember “black & white plus primary colors” though, it should be easy to figure out which ones are い adjectives. It’s certainly a lot easier than remembering five separate colors. Group them for easier memorization!
“Nouns”
I say “nouns” because these aren’t really like pure nouns. You are still using these colors to describe things, but you’re doing it in a slightly different way (using the particle の to attribute one “noun” to another noun). Let’s take a look at the colors in this category, then we’ll take a look at how this is done. Colors treated as nouns don’t need any changes made to them.
みどり (green)
ピンク (pink)
むらさき (purple)
オレンジいろ (orange)
ちゃいろ (brown)
はいいろ (gray)
きん (gold)
ぎん (silver)
One thing you’ll notice about this list is that a lot of them end with “いろ.” いろ, as you know, means “color.” Basically, the いろ is describing something as “the color of _____.” For example…
オレンジいろ → The color of オレンジ (oranges)
ちゃいろ → The color of ちゃ (tea)
Even the ones that don’t usually have an いろ on the end of them can have an いろ on the end of them. It’s a lot like the difference between saying “gold” and “the color gold.” They can both technically be the same thing, but one of them is a little more descriptive and specific.
Now, while the い adjective colors are treated just like い adjectives, these colors do something new. When directly preceding a noun, you add the の particle. You’ve done this before, though you did it a little differently. Still, it’s kind of the same thing, because these colors are treated just like nouns. For example:
むらさき の こうえん The purple park
みどり の くつ Green shoes
I won’t get into too much depth right here, but if you need a refresher on の, now would be a good time.
な Adjective Colors
This is probably the easiest category. These “colors” are treated just like な adjectives. Really, these are just modifications of a few other colors (red, white, & black). The 真っ/まっ at the beginning of each color is just making it mean “pure ____.” Basically, these are really strong, pure colors.
まっしろ (pure white)
まっくろ (pure black / pitch dark)
まっか (pure red)
These are な adjectives, and follow the same rules as in the な adjectives chapter.
Okay, now that we’ve gone through the different kinds of colors and the rules associated with each, let’s take a look at one more weird thing that’s good to know about colors. Don’t worry! It’s not about grammar. It should be quick but fun.