Colors look like ordinary adjectives syntactically: they normally follow the noun, agree with it, and repeat the article in a definite phrase. Morphologically, however, several basic colors form an old, irregular class. You cannot get بيضا “white, feminine” by simply adding ـة to أبيض. Lebanese also has regular color adjectives, recent color loans, and physical-property adjectives such as “heavy” and “long,” so learning one rule is not enough.
This page gives the urban Lebanese/Beirut baseline (informal). The agreement logic is shared with other adjectives, but the actual color forms must often be memorized.
The basic irregular color class
Several frequent masculine colors begin with أ- and have a feminine form ending in written ـا. Their common broken plural is a third lexical form.
| Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Common plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| أبيض abyaḍ | بيضا bēḍa | بيض bīḍ | white |
| أسود aswad | سودا sōda | سود sūd | black |
| أحمر aḥmar | حمرا ḥamra | حمر ḥomor | red |
| أخضر akhḍar | خضرا khaḍra | خضر khoḍor | green |
| أزرق azraʾ | زرقا zarʾa | زرق zorʾ | blue |
| أصفر aṣfar | صفرا ṣafra | صفر ṣofor | yellow |
The missing initial أ- in the feminine and plural is part of the pattern, not casual shortening. The final ـا in حمرا، خضرا، زرقا represents the spoken feminine ending of this class; forms such as أحمرة are not ordinary Lebanese color forms.
اشتريت قميص أبيض وكنزة سودا.
ishtarēt ʾamīṣ abyaḍ w-kinze sōda.
I bought a white shirt and a black sweater. (informal; masculine versus feminine singular)
خد الكاسة الزرقا من عالرف.
khodd el-kēse z-zarʾa min ʿar-raff.
Take the blue glass from the shelf. (informal)
A gender-and-number mini-paradigm
With a singular noun, select masculine or feminine agreement. With nonhuman plurals, Beirut speakers can choose a plural color when the objects are being contrasted or counted individually, or feminine-singular agreement when the set is packaged as one type. This is the broader nonhuman-plural choice explained on the nonhuman plurals page.
| Phrase | Agreement | Typical reading |
|---|---|---|
| قميص أبيض ʾamīṣ abyaḍ | masculine singular | one white shirt |
| كنزة بيضا kinze bēḍa | feminine singular | one white sweater |
| قمصان بيض ʾomṣān bīḍ | plural | white shirts as distinct choices |
| كنزات بيضا kinzāt bēḍa | feminine singular with a nonhuman plural | a white set or category of sweaters |
حط القمصان البيض لحالن، والسود بالدرج التاني.
ḥoṭṭ el-ʾomṣān el-bīḍ laḥālon, wis-sūd bid-darazh et-tēne.
Put the white shirts by themselves, and the black ones in the other drawer. (informal; individuated plural colors and ellipsis)
الكنزات البيضا خلصت، بس بعد في زرق.
el-kinzāt el-bēḍa khilṣet, bass baʿd fī zorʾ.
The white sweaters sold out, but there are still blue ones. (informal; grouped feminine-singular agreement, then contrastive plural ellipsis)
Human plurals normally take the plural form: الولاد الشقر “the blond children,” not feminine singular الشقرا. By contrast, a plural of things can be packaged with feminine singular agreement.
الولاد الشقر قاعدين حد الشباك.
el-wlād esh-shoʾor ʾāʿdīn ḥadd esh-shobbēk.
The blond children are sitting by the window. (informal; human plural agreement)
الستاير الصفرا عم تعطي الغرفة ضو دافي.
es-satāyer eṣ-ṣafra ʿam tiʿṭe l-ghorfe ḍaww dēfe.
The yellow curtains are giving the room a warm light. (informal; nonhuman plural packaged with feminine-singular agreement)
Regular colors and recent loans
Not every color belongs to the irregular class. Forms such as زهري / زهرية “pink” and برتقالي / برتقالية “orange” behave like regular relational adjectives (neutral spoken Lebanese). They add the ordinary feminine ending, and human plurals can take ـين.
بدها فستان زهري، بس مش زهري فاقع.
badda fustān zahre, bass mish zahre fēʾeʿ.
She wants a pink dress, but not a bright pink one. (informal)
Recent loans may remain unchanged as adjectives. بيج “beige” is common after masculine, feminine, and plural nouns (informal/neutral). Its invariability is lexical: it does not make every borrowed adjective invariable.
| Noun phrase | Loan adjective |
|---|---|
| جاكيت بيج zhākēt bēzh | masculine singular |
| شنطة بيج shanṭa bēzh | feminine singular |
| كنزات بيج kinzāt bēzh | nonhuman plural |
الشنطة البيج بتمشي مع كل شي.
esh-shanṭa l-bēzh btimshe maʿ kill she.
The beige bag goes with everything. (informal; invariable loan color)
Physical properties follow their own paradigms
Physical-property adjectives share the same syntax as colors but not necessarily the same morphology. High-frequency items often have broken plurals: طويل / طويلة / طوال “long, tall,” تقيل / تقيلة / تقال “heavy,” and خفيف / خفيفة / خفاف “lightweight.” Learn their plural with the singular forms.
هالصندوق تقيل، بس الشنطة خفيفة.
haṣ-ṣondūʾ tʾīl, bass esh-shanṭa khfīfe.
This box is heavy, but the bag is light. (informal; predicate adjectives)
الطاولات الطوال ما بيفوتوا بالمصعد.
eṭ-ṭāwlāt eṭ-ṭwāl ma byifūto bil-miṣʿad.
The long tables don't fit in the elevator. (informal; individuated nonhuman plural)
English speakers must also separate attribution from predication. القميص الأسود means “the black shirt,” with the article on both words; القميص أسود means “the shirt is black,” with no repeated article on the predicate. See definiteness agreement.
Literal and figurative color
Color words occur in conventional figurative expressions, but the meaning belongs to the whole expression. قلبه أبيض describes a kind, well-intentioned person; الضو الأخضر is permission to proceed. English has “green light,” but learners should not assume that every English color metaphor transfers.
ما بيحمل بقلبه ع حدا؛ قلبه أبيض.
ma byeḥmol b-ʾalbo ʿa ḥada; ʾalbo abyaḍ.
He doesn't hold anything against anyone; he's kind-hearted. (informal; literally, ‘his heart is white’)
أعطونا الضو الأخضر لنبلش المشروع.
aʿṭōna ḍ-ḍaww el-akhḍar linballesh el-mashrūʿ.
They gave us the green light to start the project. (neutral spoken Lebanese; conventional figurative use)
A shop dialogue: adjectives standing alone
Once the noun is established, a definite adjective can replace the full phrase. The gender and number form tells the listener what has been omitted.
أي قميص عجبك، الأزرق ولا الأسود؟
ayy ʾamīṣ ʿazhabak, el-azraʾ walla l-aswad?
Clerk: Which shirt did you like, the blue one or the black one? (informal)
الأزرق، بس إذا في منو قياس أكبر.
el-azraʾ, bass iza fī minno ʾiyās akbar.
Customer: The blue one, but only if you have it in a bigger size. (informal; masculine singular ellipsis)
وفي عنا كنزة بيضا خفيفة، بدك تشوفها؟
w-fī ʿinna kinze bēḍa khfīfe, baddak tshūfa?
Clerk: We also have a light white sweater; do you want to see it? (informal; stacked feminine adjectives)
إيه، جيبلي البيضا كمان.
ē, zhīble l-bēḍa kamēn.
Customer: Yes, bring me the white one too. (informal; feminine singular ellipsis)
Common Mistakes
1. Adding the regular feminine ending to an irregular color
❌ اشتريت كنزة أبيضة.
Incorrect — أبيض has the irregular feminine بيضا, not أبيضة.
✅ اشتريت كنزة بيضا.
ishtarēt kinze bēḍa.
I bought a white sweater. (informal)
2. Putting the adjective before the noun like English
❌ بدي الزرقا الكنزة.
Incorrect for the intended phrase — descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun.
✅ بدي الكنزة الزرقا.
badde l-kinze z-zarʾa.
I want the blue sweater. (informal)
3. Forgetting the article on a definite attributive color
❌ القميص أسود علقان بالخزانة.
Incorrect for ‘the black shirt’ — without the second article, أسود is read as the predicate ‘is black.’
✅ القميص الأسود علقان بالخزانة.
el-ʾamīṣ el-aswad ʿalʾān bil-khizēne.
The black shirt is hanging in the closet. (informal; definite attributive color)
4. Using feminine-singular agreement for a human plural
❌ الولاد الشقرا ناطرين برا.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — a human plural calls for the plural adjective الشقر.
✅ الولاد الشقر ناطرين برا.
el-wlād esh-shoʾor nāṭrīn barra.
The blond children are waiting outside. (informal; human plural)
5. Forcing an Arabic gender ending onto an invariable loan
❌ جابت شنطة بيجة.
Incorrect in ordinary Beirut usage — the loan color بيج normally stays unchanged.
✅ جابت شنطة بيج.
zhābet shanṭa bēzh.
She brought a beige bag. (informal; invariable loan adjective)
Key Takeaways
- Basic colors such as أبيض، أسود، أحمر have lexical feminine and plural forms; memorize all three.
- Singular colors agree for gender. Human plurals strongly take plural agreement, while nonhuman plurals allow a discourse-sensitive plural versus feminine-singular choice.
- Regular colors take ordinary endings, while a few recent loans such as بيج are invariable.
- A definite attributive color repeats the article; a predicate color does not.
- Figurative meanings belong to established expressions and cannot be translated color for color from English.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Masculine and Feminine Adjective FormsA1 — Form and use masculine and feminine Lebanese adjectives, including the common -e/-a suffix, vowel changes, and irregular color pairs.
- Adjective Plurals in Lebanese ArabicB1 — Choose lexical broken plurals, productive -īn forms, or invariant loans and apply human versus nonhuman plural agreement in Lebanese.
- Definiteness Agreement in Attributive PhrasesA1 — Distinguish bare and definite attributive adjectives from predicate adjectives through Lebanese article agreement.
- Agreement with Nonhuman PluralsB1 — Choose feminine-singular or plural agreement with Lebanese nonhuman plurals according to grouping, salience, animacy, and style.
- Agreement with Human PluralsA2 — Use plural adjectives and pronouns with human groups, including mixed groups, collectives, and gender-sensitive variants.
- Missing Gender and Number AgreementA2 — Repair gender, number, and person agreement across Lebanese verbs, adjectives, participles, and demonstratives.