Chinese Colors — 颜色: 红 / 黄 / 蓝 / 绿 / 白 / 黑

颜色 (yánsè) means "color". Chinese expresses colors with a small set of core characters — 红 red, 黄 yellow, 蓝 blue, 绿 green, 白 white, 黑 black — that combine with the suffix 色 (sè, "color") to form the full color nouns 红色, 黄色, 蓝色, 绿色, 白色, 黑色.

These six colors are among the first words an HSK 1 learner meets, and they appear constantly in daily life: describing clothes, food, the sky, traffic lights, and preferences like 我喜欢蓝色 (I like blue).

红 (hóng) — red. 黄 (huáng) — yellow. 蓝 (lán) — blue. 绿 (lǜ) — green. 白 (bái) — white. 黑 (hēi) — black.

Each bare character can act as an adjective before a noun: 红花 (a red flower), 蓝天 (blue sky), 白云 (white cloud), 黑猫 (black cat). 红花 uses 红 directly, but 红色的花 with 的 is also correct.

Chinese colors also carry cultural weight: 红 is the color of luck and celebration (红包 red envelope), 白 is used in mourning in some traditions, and 黄 gives its name to 黄河 (the Yellow River).

Add 色 to a color character to make a standalone color noun: 红 + 色 = 红色 ("the color red"). Use the 色 form when the color is the subject or object: 红色很好看 (red looks nice), 我不喜欢黑色 (I do not like black).

Use the bare character when it modifies a noun directly: 红苹果 (a red apple), 黑衣服 (black clothes). With 的 you can use either form: 红色的苹果 or 红苹果 both mean "a red apple".

Some colors appear almost always with 色 and rarely bare: 粉色 pink, 紫色 purple, 橙色 orange, 灰色 gray, 棕色 brown. Others, like 红/白/黑, are very common as bare adjectives.

深 (shēn) means "deep/dark" and 浅 (qiǎn) means "light/shallow". Put them before the color to shade it: 深红 dark red, 浅蓝 light blue, 深绿 dark green, 浅黄 light yellow.

深 and 浅 always come before the color, never after: 深蓝 is correct, 蓝深 is wrong. You can also combine with 色: 深蓝色 dark blue, 浅绿色 light green.

粉红/粉色 (fěnsè) — pink. 紫 (zǐ) — purple. 橙 (chéng) — orange. 灰 (huī) — gray. 棕/咖啡色 (zōngsè / kāfēisè) — brown.

粉红 literally means "powder red" (pink). 咖啡色 means "coffee color" (brown), a reminder that many Chinese colors are built from objects: 金色 gold (metal color), 银色 silver, 天蓝 sky blue (天 sky + 蓝 blue).

To say what color something is, use 是…的: 这件衣服是红色的 (this piece of clothing is red), 我的车是白色的 (my car is white).

To state a preference, use 喜欢: 我喜欢蓝色 (I like blue), 她喜欢红色 (she likes red).

To ask about a color, use 什么颜色: 你喜欢什么颜色？(what color do you like?) 这是什么颜色？(what color is this?).

Do not reverse the word order: it is 深蓝 (dark blue), not 蓝深. The shade word 深/浅 always comes first.

Do not forget 色 when the color stands alone as a noun. 我喜欢红 sounds incomplete; 我喜欢红色 (I like red) is the natural form. As a modifier before a noun, however, 红衣服 is fine.

Do not confuse 红 (red) with 粉红 (pink). 粉红 is a lighter, softer red, while 红 is plain red.

Keep the 的 in 是…的 sentences and in 红色的花. 这朵花是红的 (this flower is red) and 那朵红色的花 (that red flower) both need 的.