Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Colours
Colours in Japanese can be divided into two categories: い-adjectives (あかい akai) or nouns (みどり midori). This is similar to English. We can use colour words as both adjectives and nouns.
e.g. The red pen.
The pen is red.
All colours have a noun form (which is just the colour word minus the い. However, not all Japanese colours have an adjective form. Therefore, the adjective あかい (akai) for red also has a noun form あか (aka). みどり for green is a noun and has no adjective form. The い sound at the end of みどり does not count as an adjective ending.
Some colours have two forms, both of which are acceptable. The second form is for some noun colours and is created by adding いろ (iro), which means colour, to the end. So みどり can also be みどり-いろ.
When describing the colour of an object, the adjective form is used whenever possible. However, the noun form may also be used. When describing an object with more than one colour, the noun form must be used. Although some of the colours are い-adjectives, you cannot join them the same way as joining other い-adjectives by dropping the final い and adding くて. When joining two colours in noun form, the particle と is used. When joining a colour in the noun form with another noun, the particle の is used. (The same as joining two nouns.)
Examples
あかい スカートを はいています。 (Akai sukaato-o haite-imasu.)
I am wearing a red skirt.
スカートの いろは あか です。 (Sukaato-no iro-wa aka desu.)
The colour of the skirt is red.
あかと しろの スカートを はくことが すき です。(Aka-to shiro-no sukaato-o haku koto ga suki desu.)
I like to wear red and white skirts.
I will provide two lists: One for colour adjectives, one for colour nouns. It is not a full list, but contains most of the colours you would use.
Adjective form of colours
あかい - akai
red
あおい - aoi
blue
きいろい - kiiroi
yellow
くろい - kuroi
black
しろい - shiroi
white
ちゃいろい - chairoi
brown
Noun form of colours
あか - aka
red
あお - ao
blue
きいろ - kiiro
yellow
くろ - kuro
black
しろ - shiro
white
みどり(いろ) - midori (iro)
green
はいいろ / ねずみいろ - haiiro / nezumiiro
grey
ピンク - pinku
pink
ちゃいろ - chairo
brown
こんいろ - koniro
navy blue
むらさき(いろ) - murasaki (iro)
purple
オレンジ(いろ) - orenji (iro)
orange
はだいろ / ももいろ- hada iro / momo iro
peach colour
みずいろ - mizuiro
light blue
きみどりいろ - kimidori iro
yellow-green
I have included notes about how colours should be used. I think that's all that needs to be known, I may have missed something.
I've known that color words were spelled differently but I've never actively found out why. Well I know now. :]
This is good info for building blocks in learning a language---always return to the basics.
Thx for the edu. (~'u'~)v