Colours and gender agreement
Arabic · Key Stage 2 · The School
Six basic colours
أَحْمَر red. أَزْرَق blue. أَخْضَر green. أَصْفَر yellow. أَسْوَد black. أَبْيَض white. Notice they all start with alif — that is common for Arabic colour words, though not a rule for every word in the language.
Colours change for gender
A masculine noun takes the plain form: كِتاب أَحْمَر, a red book. A feminine noun adds ـاء: سَيّارة حَمْراء, a red car. Blue does the same: أَزْرَق becomes زَرْقاء. Learn the pair together, not the masculine alone.
Why this matters for reading
Spotting ـاء on a colour word tells you two things at once: the colour, and that the noun it describes is feminine. That is useful information for free, hidden inside a single word ending — one more reason Arabic rewards reading the whole word, not just guessing from the start.
Building colour phrases
The colour word always comes after the noun in Arabic, the reverse of English. بَيْت أَبْيَض — a white house, literally 'house white'. زَهْرة صَفْراء — a yellow flower, literally 'flower yellow'. Try it yourself: pick a noun you already know and add a colour after it, matching the gender.