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Colours are really helpful words to know so that you can describe things such as clothes and other objects in Mandarin.

Join Scottish pupils as they give Mandarin a go!

Listen and guess what they are saying before trying yourself.

Tip: This video can be used as an interactive introduction to this topic or as a recap on key vocabulary and phrases already learnt.

Remember!

It doesn't matter if your pronunciation isn't perfect. Try your best and have fun!

There are two different ways to say each colour in Mandarin.

To start, there are colours as nouns in Mandarin, eg ¡®the colour red¡¯ or ¡®the colour black¡¯.

Click on the colours below to learn what they are in Mandarin:

Here are the same words in a table:

To say what you like and don't like, you can use the phrases:

• ÎÒϲ»¶ W¨¯ x¨« hu¨¡n - I like

• ÎÒ²»Ï²»¶ W¨¯ b¨´ x¨« hu¨¡n - I don¡¯t like

You can use those phrases to talk about the colours you like and don't like, by adding a colour at the end:

Examples:

• ÎÒϲ»¶×ÏÉ« W¨¯ x¨« hu¨¡n z¨« s¨¨ - I like the colour purple

• ÎÒ²»Ï²»¶°×É« W¨¯ b¨´ x¨« hu¨¡n b¨¢i s¨¨ - I don¡¯t like the colour white

To use colours as adjectives in Mandarin, the particle ¡®µÄ de¡¯ is added at the end to express possession.

For example, to describe the colour of on object, eg clothing, as red in Mandarin you would need to use ºìÉ« µÄ h¨®ng s¨¨ de, rather than ºìÉ« h¨®ng s¨¨. Here are some other examples:

• ×ØÉ«µÄ¿ã×Ó z¨­ng s¨¨ de k¨´ zi - brown trousers

• À¶É«µÄ¶Ìȹ l¨¢n s¨¨ de du¨£n q¨²n - blue skirt

• ÂÌÉ«µÄëÒ l¨¸ s¨¨ de m¨¢o y¨© - green jumper

• ³ÈÉ«µÄ´óÒ ch¨¦ng s¨¨ de d¨¤ y¨© - orange coat

Take your learning further

Learn about clothes using our guide Mandarin: Clothes and accessories.