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### Painting Italian — i colori

You already know **il colore** (the word for color itself), *rosso*, and *nero*. Here is the rest of the everyday palette — and the one grammar trap colors hide.

### Three Agreement Classes

| class | behavior | colors |
|---|---|---|
| -o colors | 4 forms (-o, -a, -i, -e) | **bianco**, **giallo**, **grigio**, **azzurro** |
| -e colors | 2 forms (-e, -i) | **verde**, **marrone**, **arancione** |
| invariable | never change | **blu**, **viola** |

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The invariable colors keep one form no matter what they describe:

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### Azzurro vs blu

Italian splits English *blue* in two: **azzurro** is the light blue of a clear sky (and of Italy's national teams — *gli Azzurri*), while **blu** is dark blue.

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### La neve

**La neve** — snow — is the classic thing to describe as *bianca*.

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Colors (i colori)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
white	bianco
The white cat is sleeping.	Il gatto bianco dorme.
yellow	giallo
The flower is yellow.	Il fiore è giallo.
The yellow t-shirt is old.	La maglietta gialla è vecchia.
gray	grigio
The sky is gray today.	Il cielo oggi è grigio.
My grandfather's hair is gray.	I capelli di mio nonno sono grigi.
light blue, sky blue	azzurro
light (of a color); clear	chiaro
The sky is light blue.	Il cielo è azzurro.
The seawater is light blue.	L'acqua del mare è azzurra.
green	verde
The apple is green.	La mela è verde.
The grass is green.	L'erba è verde.
brown	marrone
The chair is brown.	La sedia è marrone.
My mother's shoes are brown.	Le scarpe di mia madre sono marroni.
orange (color)	arancione
The orange is orange.	L'arancia è arancione.
The orange t-shirt is new.	La maglietta arancione è nuova.
dark blue	blu
The sea is dark blue.	Il mare è blu.
The blue car is new.	La macchina blu è nuova.
purple	viola
The dress is purple.	Il vestito è viola.
These flowers are purple.	Questi fiori sono viola.
the snow	la neve
The snow is white.	La neve è bianca.
In winter there is snow.	In inverno c'è la neve.
My t-shirt is light blue.	La mia maglietta è azzurro chiaro.
The water of the lake is clear.	L'acqua del lago è chiara.

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