Naming a colour in Greek forces a small grammatical decision every single time: does this colour decline or not? Greek's colour vocabulary is split cleanly in two. On one side are the native colours, ordinary -ος / -η / -ο adjectives that must agree with their noun in gender, number and case — κόκκινο φόρεμα but κόκκινα μήλα. On the other side are the loan colours and the -ί colours, which are frozen in one form and sit unchanged in front of any noun — μπλε φόρεμα, μπλε μήλα, μπλε πόρτα. This page is your colour vocabulary; the mechanism of why some words refuse to inflect is on indeclinable adjectives.
The native colours, which decline
These are the core of the colour system, and they behave like any regular adjective — make them agree.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| κόκκινος | κόκκινη | κόκκινο | red |
| άσπρος / λευκός | άσπρη / λευκή | άσπρο / λευκό | white |
| μαύρος | μαύρη | μαύρο | black |
| κίτρινος | κίτρινη | κίτρινο | yellow |
| πράσινος | πράσινη | πράσινο | green |
| γαλάζιος | γαλάζια | γαλάζιο | light / sky blue |
| γκρίζος | γκρίζα | γκρίζο | grey |
| καφετής | καφετιά | καφετί | brown |
Two notes on the white and blue rows. Άσπρος is the everyday word for white and λευκός its slightly more formal twin (λευκός is what a shirt label or a wine list says: λευκό κρασί, "white wine"). For blue there are two native words — γαλάζιος (light/sky blue) and γαλανός (clear blue, often of eyes and skies) — both declining, sitting beside the frozen loan μπλε for darker blue.
Μου αρέσει πολύ το πράσινο παλτό σου, πού το βρήκες;
mu arési polí to prásino paltó su, pu to vríkes;
I really like your green coat — where did you find it?
Μάζεψα κάτι κατακόκκινες ντομάτες από τον κήπο το πρωί.
mázepsa káti katakókines domátes apó ton kípo to proí
I picked some bright-red tomatoes from the garden this morning.
Φορούσε ένα μαύρο κοστούμι και ένα άσπρο πουκάμισο.
forúse éna mávro kostúmi ke éna áspro pukámiso
He was wearing a black suit and a white shirt.
Ο ουρανός ήταν γαλανός, χωρίς ούτε ένα σύννεφο.
o uranós ítan ghalanós, chorís úte éna sínefo
The sky was clear blue, without a single cloud.
The καφέ / καφές trap
Καφέ ("brown") is a French loan (from café) and, like all the loan colours, it never inflects: καφέ παπούτσια, καφέ μάτια, της καφέ πόρτας. The catch for a learner is that Greek also has the everyday noun ο καφές ("coffee"), a fully-inflecting masculine word with a real plural, οι καφέδες. They are homographs, not the same word — the colour is invariable, the drink is not. And native Greek has its own declining word for brown too, καφετής / καφετιά / καφετί, which you can use when you want agreement.
Έχει μεγάλα καφέ μάτια και ίσια, σκούρα μαλλιά.
échi meghála kafé mátia ke ísia, skúra maliá
She has big brown eyes and straight, dark hair.
Φόρεσε μια καφετιά ζακέτα γιατί έκανε κρύο.
fórese mia kafetiá zakéta yatí ékane krío
She put on a brown cardigan because it was cold.
Ο καφές μου κρύωσε όσο έβαφα τον τοίχο καφέ.
o kafés mu kríose óso évafa ton tícho kafé
My coffee went cold while I painted the wall brown.
That last sentence has both in it: ο καφές (the drink, a noun) and καφέ (the colour, frozen). Keep them apart and you will never write ×τα καφέδες παπούτσια.
The loan and -ί colours, which never change
Here are the frozen colours you actually need. None of them ever takes an ending — one form covers every gender, number and case.
| Colour | Meaning | Type |
|---|---|---|
| μπλε | blue | loan (Fr. bleu) |
| ροζ | pink | loan (Fr. rose) |
| γκρι | grey | loan (Fr. gris) |
| μωβ | purple, mauve | loan (Fr. mauve) |
| μπεζ | beige | loan (Fr. beige) |
| καφέ | brown | loan (Fr. café) |
| πορτοκαλί | orange | native -ί |
Alongside the French loans is a whole native series built with the frozen ending -ί, most of them named after the thing they resemble: πορτοκαλί (orange, from πορτοκάλι), θαλασσί (sea-blue, from θάλασσα), σταχτί (ash-grey), κυπαρισσί (cypress-green), βυσσινί (deep cherry-red). All of them stress the last syllable and never agree.
Αγόρασα δύο μωβ μαξιλάρια και ένα μπεζ κάλυμμα για τον καναπέ.
aghórasa dhío mov maksilária ke éna bez kálima ya ton kanapé
I bought two purple cushions and a beige cover for the sofa.
Το ηλιοβασίλεμα έβαψε τα σύννεφα ροζ και πορτοκαλί.
to iliovasílema évapse ta sínefa roz ke portokalí
The sunset turned the clouds pink and orange.
Notice that some shades come in both flavours, and you pick by register and habit: the loan γκρι (frozen) sits beside the native γκρίζος (declining), both "grey"; the loan μπλε beside the native γαλάζιος / γαλανός.
Της χάρισα ένα γαλάζιο φουλάρι, το αγαπημένο της χρώμα.
tis chárisa éna ghalázio fulári, to aghapiméno tis chróma
I gave her a light-blue scarf, her favourite colour.
Light and dark: ανοιχτό and σκούρο
To lighten or darken a colour, Greek puts ανοιχτό ("light", literally "open") or σκούρο ("dark") in front of it. There are two ways to do this, and it is worth knowing both.
With a frozen loan colour, the two words stay separate, and only ανοιχτό / σκούρο agrees — the loan stays put. So σκούρο changes to match the noun while μπλε does not: σκούρο μπλε παλτό, σκούρα μπλε φούστα, σκούρα μπλε παπούτσια.
Ψάχνω ένα ανοιχτό γκρι κοστούμι για τον γάμο του αδερφού μου.
psáchno éna anichtó gri kostúmi ya ton ghámo tu adherfú mu
I'm looking for a light-grey suit for my brother's wedding.
With a native colour, the pair usually fuses into a single compound adjective — ανοιχτογάλαζο (light blue), σκουροπράσινο (dark green), ανοιχτοκάστανο (light chestnut) — and the whole compound then declines as one ordinary -ος / -η / -ο adjective.
Έβαψε την κρεβατοκάμαρα σε ένα απαλό ανοιχτογάλαζο.
évapse tin krevatokámara se éna apaló anichtoghálazo
She painted the bedroom a soft light blue.
Προτιμώ τα σκουροπράσινα φύλλα από τα ανοιχτοπράσινα.
protimó ta skuroprásina fíla apó ta anichtoprásina
I prefer the dark-green leaves to the light-green ones.
Είχε σκούρα καστανά μαλλιά και πράσινα μάτια.
íche skúra kastaná maliá ke prásina mátia
She had dark-brown hair and green eyes.
That last example brings in καστανός ("chestnut brown"), the native, declining word Greek uses specifically for hair and eyes — you say καστανά μαλλιά, not καφέ μαλλιά, when you mean brown hair.
Common Mistakes
1. Giving a frozen colour a Greek ending. The loan colours never inflect, not even for the plural.
❌ Αγόρασα δυο μωβα μπλουζάκια.
Incorrect — μωβ never inflects: δυο μωβ μπλουζάκια.
✅ Αγόρασα δυο μωβ μπλουζάκια για το καλοκαίρι.
aghórasa dhío mov bluzákia ya to kalokéri
I bought two purple T-shirts for the summer.
2. Failing to decline a native colour. The flip side — κόκκινος, μαύρος, πράσινος and the rest do agree.
❌ Είχε κόκκινο μαλλιά και φακίδες.
Incorrect — μαλλιά is neuter plural, so it must be κόκκινα μαλλιά.
✅ Είχε κόκκινα μαλλιά και φακίδες σε όλο της το πρόσωπο.
íche kókina maliá ke fakídhes se ólo tis to prósopo
She had red hair and freckles all over her face.
3. Inflecting the colour καφέ as if it were the noun. Καφέδες is the plural of ο καφές ("coffees"), never a colour form.
❌ Της αρέσουν τα καφέδες παπούτσια.
Incorrect — καφέδες is the plural of the drink; the colour is invariable: τα καφέ παπούτσια.
✅ Της αρέσουν τα καφέ παπούτσια περισσότερο από τα μαύρα.
tis arésun ta kafé papútsia perisótero apó ta mávra
She likes the brown shoes more than the black ones.
4. Not agreeing σκούρο / ανοιχτό next to a frozen colour. Even when the loan colour stays put, σκούρο / ανοιχτό still has to match the noun.
❌ Φοράει μια σκούρο μπλε φούστα.
Incorrect — σκούρο agrees even though μπλε doesn't: σκούρα μπλε φούστα.
✅ Φοράει μια σκούρα μπλε φούστα με άσπρο πουκάμισο.
forái mia skúra ble fústa me áspro pukámiso
She's wearing a dark-blue skirt with a white shirt.
Key Takeaways
- Greek colours split in two: native colours decline and agree (κόκκινος, μαύρος, πράσινος, κίτρινος, γαλάζιος, γκρίζος, καφετής); loan and -ί colours are frozen (μπλε, ροζ, γκρι, μωβ, μπεζ, καφέ, πορτοκαλί).
- Καφέ (the colour) is invariable and is not a form of ο καφές (the drink, plural καφέδες); use native καφετής / καφετιά / καφετί when you want a declining "brown".
- Some shades exist in both types — γκρι vs γκρίζος, μπλε vs γαλάζιος — chosen by register and habit.
- For hair and eyes, brown is καστανός (declining), not καφέ.
- Light and dark: ανοιχτό / σκούρο stays a separate, agreeing word before a frozen loan (σκούρα μπλε φούστα), but fuses into a single declining compound before a native colour (ανοιχτογάλαζο, σκουροπράσινο).
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Indeclinable Adjectives (Colors, Loans)B1 — The adjectives that never change form — loan colours μπλε, καφέ, ροζ, γκρι, μοβ and the -ί colours πορτοκαλί, plus loans like σικ and ρετρό — set against the native colours (κόκκινος, μαύρος) that decline normally.
- Adjectives in -ος / -η / -οA1 — The full paradigm of the largest and most regular Greek adjective class — καλός, μικρός, ψηλός, όμορφος — declined across all four cases, both numbers and all three genders, with the useful shortcut that each gender copies a noun declension you already know, plus the vocative -ε and why these adjectives keep their accent fixed where the matching nouns shift it.