Colours in Portuguese (Portugal): word list with pictures
12 words · tap 🔊 to hear each one in Portuguese (Portugal).
| Picture | English | Portuguese (Portugal) | Say it | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Vermelho | |||
| Yellow | Amarelo | |||
| Blue | Azul | |||
| Green | Verde | |||
| Orange | Laranja | |||
| Purple | Roxo | |||
| Pink | Cor-de-rosa | |||
| Brown | Castanho | |||
| Black | Preto | |||
| White | Branco | |||
| Grey | Cinzento | |||
| Sky Blue | Azul-claro |
Colours in European Portuguese are some of the most useful words a small child can learn, because they describe everything: toys, clothes, food and the sky. This page has 12 colours with clear audio, the words a child in Portugal uses every day: vermelho (red), amarelo (yellow), azul (blue), verde (green), laranja (orange), roxo (purple), cor-de-rosa (pink), castanho (brown), preto (black), branco (white), cinzento (grey) and azul-claro (light blue). Tap a colour to hear it in Portuguese and English, then play Find it.
Castanho, cinzento: the colours that change in Brazil
Two colours are the classic test of whether a speaker learned Portuguese in Portugal or Brazil. In Portugal, brown is castanho, the same word as a chestnut, castanha. In Brazil it is usually marrom. Grey is cinzento in Portugal and mostly cinza in Brazil. Pink is cor-de-rosa in both, though Brazilians often shorten it to rosa.
| English | Portugal (this page) | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| brown | castanho | marrom |
| grey | cinzento | cinza |
| pink | cor-de-rosa | rosa or cor-de-rosa |
| light blue | azul-claro | azul-claro |
A nice tip for Portuguese families: teach castanho in November, when chestnuts are roasted in the street for São Martinho. The colour and the nut share a name, and your child will never forget it. If your family is Brazilian, the colours in Brazilian Portuguese page uses marrom and cinza.
Why colour words sometimes change their ending
In Portuguese, many colour words agree with the thing they describe. You say o carro vermelho (the red car) but a bola vermelha (the red ball), o chapéu preto but a camisola preta. Some colours never change: azul, verde, laranja and cor-de-rosa stay the same for everything. The game always says the basic form. At home, just use the right ending when you speak. Young children pick it up from hearing it, and gentle repetition works better than correction: if your child says "bola vermelho", answer "Sim, a bola vermelha!"
Mixing colours
Many colour facts in Portuguese are about mixing: azul com amarelo dá verde (blue and yellow make green), vermelho com amarelo dá laranja, vermelho com azul dá roxo, and preto com branco dá cinzento. Test them with paint or play dough. Four- and five-year-olds are thrilled when the "magic" works, and saying the sentence while mixing builds real phrases, not just single words.
Light and dark shades come next. Add claro (light) or escuro (dark) after the colour, as in azul-claro, the twelfth card, or verde-escuro for a pine tree.
Colours around Portugal
Portugal is a colourful place to learn in. The blue and white tiles, azulejos, cover churches, stations and old houses; count the azul ones together. The flag is verde e vermelho with a little yellow. Lisbon's old trams are amarelo, and at the Santos Populares in June the streets fill with paper garlands in every colour. Wherever you live, look for one colour each day on a walk: a "dia do vermelho" (red day) turns an ordinary trip into a hunt.
Teaching colours by age
| Age | What to aim for | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 | Matching two colours, hearing the names | Sort red and yellow blocks into two boxes |
| 3-4 | Naming 4-6 colours | "De que cor é?" with clothes while dressing |
| 4-5 | All 12 colours, including castanho and cinzento | Find it on the hardest setting; colour mixing |
| 5-6 | Colour plus object with the right ending | Describe a picture: "a casa amarela" |
Colour words are often the last basic words to settle, and mixing up azul and verde at three is normal. If your child has trouble telling some colours apart, consider that about one boy in twelve has some colour vision difference, and talk to your paediatrician if you are unsure. The high-contrast option in Settings can also help.
Combine topics: sort fruit by colour with fruits in European Portuguese, then count the red ones with numbers in European Portuguese. For Hindi and English colour names, try colors name. There is no PDF, but you can print this page for colouring.
As cores para crianças
Nesta página a criança aprende doze cores: vermelho, amarelo, azul, verde, laranja, roxo, cor-de-rosa, castanho, preto, branco, cinzento e azul-claro. Toque numa cor para ouvir o nome.
Em casa, pergunte "De que cor é?" ao vestir, ao comer e ao brincar. Misturem tintas: azul com amarelo dá verde! Na rua, procurem os azulejos azuis e os elétricos amarelos. Aprender as cores é olhar para o mundo com mais atenção.
How to use this page at home
Say it, then find it
Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: portuguese (portugal) words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.
Ten minutes is enough
Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.
Use both languages
Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.
