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Colors

Plural or singular???
As adjectives, colors also change gender and number to follow the nouns they point to.

But some colors have a different behavior.

Standard behavior

Colors that have their own name are used just like any ordinary adjective:

Color Masc. Sing. Fem. Sing. Masc. Pl. Fem. Pl.

Red Vermelho Vermelha Vermelhos Vermelhas

Yellow Amarelo Amarela Amarelos Amarelas

Blue Azul Azul Azuis Azuis

Green Verde Verde Verdes Verdes

Purple Roxo Roxa Roxos Roxas

(1) - Some adjectives, especially the ones ending in "e" have their masculine and feminine
versions equal. That is normal and will happen to many other adjectives as well.

Invariant colors

But... colors that got their names from other things don't have plural forms:

Gray = Cinza ("cinza" comes from "ash")

Orange = Laranja (comes from the fruit)

Violet = Violeta (it's the name of a flower)

Pink = Rosa ("rosa" comes from "rose")

Examples:

Carro vermelho = Red car

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https://www.duolingo.com/skill/pt/Colors/tips-and-notes 1/2
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Casas amarelas = Yellow houses

Colors
Carro cinza = Gray car

Casas cinza = Gray houses

Moreno and negro

The standard color used for objects and animals is "preto" (black).

Um carro preto, um gato preto = A black car, a black cat

Uma caneta preta - A black pen

The word "negro" is often used with more abstract things, meaning "dark".

When referring to people's skin color, "negro" is the right choice, although many people prefer
the term "afrodescendente" (descendent from Africans).

"Moreno" is only used for people. It may refer sometimes to the hair color, and in other cases to
skin color.

Black or dark hair is considered "moreno".

Skin that is neither white nor black or very dark is also "pele morena"

When you say "ela é morena", you may be talking either about hair or skin, or both.

https://www.duolingo.com/skill/pt/Colors/tips-and-notes 2/2