Algerian Arabic Colors 🎨
This vocabulary lesson will brighten up your day! You will learn the basic colors in Algerian Arabic. Unlike in English where colors describe both genders as well as the plural form; in Arabic, the color term changes in some syllables from masculine to feminine to plural form. You will find below the colors in all the forms, some useful adjectives used with colors, notes concerning certain colors and examples at the end of the lesson.
The Colors in All Forms + Some Adjectives
💡Notes Concerning Certain Colors 💡
Color Blue
Depending on the region in Algeria, it has two pronunciations
/z’raq/ or /z’rag/
Color Red
Pay attention to the pronunciation of this color if you are a non-Arabic speaker, as you may mispronounce the color and it changes completely the meaning of the word.
The right pronunciation is a short vowel sound
/7’mar/ حمر
The wrong pronunciation is a long vowel sound
❌/7’ma:r/❌حمار
(means a donkey 🤭)
Color Purple
/v’youli/ فيولي
It’s a French origin word. We do have some old Arabic names for this color like:
/tartri:/ طرطري or /7al7a:li:/ حلحالي
But because they are not commonly used as much as the first one and they are difficult to pronounce for a non-Arabic speaker, I advise you to use this word
/v’youli/ فيولي
Examples
شريت قمجة بيضا وسروال كحل
/ch’ri:t q’midja bayda w serwa:l k’7al/
I bought a white shirt and a black pair of trousers
هذا القماش شفّاف
/hada: leqma:ch chaffa:f/
This fabric is translucent
الكتب كامل خضورا
/loktob ka:mil kh’doura/
All books are green
Thanks for reading! I hope you found this lesson very helpful.
