Several basic Egyptian colors use an inherited adjective pattern with a masculine form beginning in أ and a different feminine stem: أحمر / حمرا “red,” أبيض / بيضا “white,” and أسود / سودا “black.” You cannot form these feminines by simply adding ـة.
Traditional Arabic grammar calls this the “color and physical-defect” class. That historical label describes morphology, not respectful modern language. Some person-describing words in the class can sound blunt or insulting; learn to recognize their forms and choose person-centered wording appropriate to the individual and setting.
Learn masculine and feminine as a pair
In mainstream Cairene, the final hamza of formal feminine ـاء is normally absent in speech and ordinary colloquial spelling: formal حمراء corresponds to Egyptian حمرا.
| Color | Masculine | Feminine | Common lexical plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| red | أحمر | حمرا | حمر |
| blue | أزرق | زرقا | زرق |
| green | أخضر | خضرا | خضر |
| yellow | أصفر | صفرا | صفر |
| white | أبيض | بيضا | بيض |
| black | أسود | سودا | سود |
القميص أبيض، والبلوزة بيضا.
il-ʾamīṣ ʾabyaḍ, wi-l-bolōza bēḍa.
The shirt is white, and the blouse is white.
الباب أخضر، والعربية خضرا.
il-bāb ʾakhḍar, wi-l-ʿarabiyya khaḍra.
The door is green, and the car is green.
English repeats one invariant color. Egyptian selects the masculine or feminine stem according to the Arabic noun’s grammatical gender.
For the regular ـة contrast outside this inherited class, see masculine and feminine adjective forms.
Nonhuman plurals normally use feminine singular color
The table includes inherited plural forms, but a neutral nonhuman plural usually takes the feminine singular adjective in ordinary Cairene.
القميص أبيض، والقمصان بيضا.
il-ʾamīṣ ʾabyaḍ, wi-l-ʾomṣān bēḍa.
The shirt is white, and the shirts are white.
العربية حمرا، والعربيات حمرا.
il-ʿarabiyya ḥamra, wi-l-ʿarabiyyāt ḥamra.
The car is red, and the cars are red.
This is animacy-sensitive agreement, not a claim that العربيات is singular. In spontaneous interaction, speakers may use plural color forms when individualizing visible objects, but feminine singular is the reliable production baseline.
Human plurals can use the lexical plural
When a pattern adjective directly describes people, a lexical plural is available. أشقر / شقرا / شقر “blond/fair-haired” shows the same family.
الولد أشقر، والبنت شقرا، والولاد شقر.
il-walad ʾashʾar, wi-l-bint shaʾra, wi-l-wilād shuʾr.
The boy is blond, the girl is blond, and the boys are blond.
الأطفال الشقر واقفين عند الباب.
il-ʾaṭfāl ish-shuʾr waʾfīn ʿand il-bāb.
The blond children are standing by the door.
The attributive plural الشقر repeats the article because it belongs inside the definite noun phrase.
Attributive versus predicative color
Definiteness distinguishes “the red shirt” from “the shirt is red.”
القميص الأحمر نضيف.
il-ʾamīṣ il-ʾaḥmar niḍīf.
The red shirt is clean.
القميص أحمر، بس مش نضيف.
il-ʾamīṣ ʾaḥmar, bass mish niḍīf.
The shirt is red, but it isn’t clean.
In the first sentence, الأحمر identifies which shirt. In the second, bare أحمر is the predicate. Egyptian uses no present-tense is here.
Color can be modified by shade words: أحمر غامق “dark red,” أزرق فاتح “light blue.” Simple degree قوي can mean “very/intensely” in conversation, but the shade adjectives are usually more precise.
عايزة طرحة زرقا غامقة، مش فاتحة.
ʿayza ṭarḥa zarʾa ghāmʾa, mish fātḥa.
I want a dark-blue scarf, not a light one—said by a woman.
Not every color belongs to this pattern
Colors derived from materials or other nouns often behave like nisba adjectives: بني / بنية “brown,” رمادي / رمادية “gray,” برتقاني / برتقانية “orange.” They do not acquire an أفعل / فعلا pair merely because they denote colors.
اشتريت جاكيت بني وشنطة رمادية.
ishtarēt gākēt bonni wi-shanṭa ramādiyya.
I bought a brown jacket and a gray bag.
The semantic category “color” therefore does not predict one morphology. Learn whether a color belongs to the inherited pattern or the regular/nisba class.
Physical-description vocabulary and respectful use
The same historical family produced person-describing pairs that Cairene often regularizes with ـة, such as أعرج / عرجة and أطرش / طرشة. In modern interaction, these can be stigmatizing (blunt/possibly offensive) when used as labels for people. Medical, accessibility, and Deaf-community contexts have their own preferred terminology, and individual preference matters.
Use the morphology for recognition, not as permission to reduce a person to a condition. Depending on the context, descriptions such as عنده ضعف سمع “he has hearing loss” or the terminology a person uses for themself may be more appropriate.
هو عنده ضعف سمع، فخلينا نتكلم بوضوح.
huwwa ʿando ḍaʿf samʿ, fa-khallīna nitkallim bi-woḍūḥ.
He has hearing loss, so let’s speak clearly. (neutral contextual description)
This wording does not fit the color pattern morphologically; it illustrates why social meaning can make a paraphrase preferable.
A natural descriptive exchange
أنهي قميص عاجبك، الأحمر ولا الأزرق؟
ʾanhi ʾamīṣ ʿagbak, il-ʾaḥmar walla l-ʾazraʾ?
Which shirt do you like, the red one or the blue one?
الأزرق حلو، بس عايزه أغمق شوية.
il-ʾazraʾ ḥilw, bass ʿayzo ʾaghmaʾ shwayya.
The blue one is nice, but I want it a little darker.
طيب، جرب القميص الأزرق الغامق ده.
ṭayyib, garrab il-ʾamīṣ il-ʾazraʾ il-ghāmiʾ da.
Okay, try this dark-blue shirt.
The last example has two definite attributive adjectives, الأزرق الغامق, followed by demonstrative ده.
Common Mistakes
Building the feminine by adding ـة
❌ الشنطة دي أحمرة.
Incorrect—the inherited feminine of أحمر is حمرا.
✅ الشنطة دي حمرا.
ish-shanṭa di ḥamra.
This bag is red.
Keeping the masculine form with a feminine noun
❌ العربية دي أحمر.
Incorrect—عربية requires feminine حمرا.
✅ العربية دي حمرا.
il-ʿarabiyya di ḥamra.
This car is red.
Putting the adjective before the noun
❌ أحمر قميص جديد.
Incorrect in neutral attributive order.
✅ قميص أحمر جديد.
ʾamīṣ ʾaḥmar gidīd.
A new red shirt.
Omitting the article on a definite modifier
❌ القميص أحمر الجديد نضيف.
Incorrect for ‘the new red shirt’; the attributive colors and qualities must match definiteness.
✅ القميص الأحمر الجديد نضيف.
il-ʾamīṣ il-ʾaḥmar il-gidīd niḍīf.
The new red shirt is clean.
Forcing human plural agreement onto neutral objects
❌ العربيات حمر.
Marked outside an individualized plural frame; it is not the neutral production baseline.
✅ العربيات حمرا.
il-ʿarabiyyāt ḥamra.
The cars are red.
Plural حمر may occur with strongly individualized or stylized reference (informal/performance). The correction gives the dependable neutral baseline rather than declaring every plural occurrence impossible.
Key Takeaways
- Basic colors such as أحمر / حمرا have inherited gender pairs; do not add ـة mechanically.
- Neutral nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular color agreement: العربيات حمرا.
- Human plurals can select lexical plural forms such as شقر.
- Definite attributive colors repeat the article; predicate colors remain bare.
- Some physical-description words in this historical class are socially blunt, so recognize their morphology and choose respectful wording in use.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Masculine and Feminine Adjective FormsA1 — Form and choose masculine and feminine Egyptian Arabic adjectives while keeping gender separate from plural and definiteness agreement.
- Adjectives with Human PluralsA2 — Use Egyptian plural adjective forms with male, female, and mixed human groups while keeping definiteness and predicate structure separate.
- Adjectives with Non-Human PluralsA1 — Use the feminine-singular baseline with Egyptian Arabic nonhuman plurals while recognizing natural plural agreement in individualized contexts.
- Definite versus Indefinite AdjectivesA1 — Match attributive adjectives to an Egyptian Arabic noun's definiteness and distinguish them from bare adjective predicates.
- Nisba Adjectives in ـيّA2 — Form and use Egyptian relational adjectives for origin, field, institution, and type, with the right gender, human plural, and nonhuman agreement.