2.10 Colors

Japanese colors fall into two groups:

True い-adjectives — these conjugate like other い-adjectives:

• 白い, 黒い, 赤い, 青い, 黄色い

Noun-form colors — these use の before a following noun:

• ピンクの、オレンジの、みどりの、むらさきの

Using colors before nouns

For い-adjective colors, use directly before the noun:

For noun-form colors, use の before the noun:

青い — blue or green?

青い (あおい) traditionally covered both blue and green. In modern Japanese:

• 青い is mainly blue (sky, sea) or green traffic light
• みどり is the standard word for green (nature, plants)

You may still hear 青信号 (あおしんごう, literally "blue signal") meaning green light — this is a fixed expression.