Language/Hungarian/Vocabulary/Colors

Hungarian Vocabulary - Colors

Hi Hungarian learners! 😊

In this lesson, we will be expanding our vocabulary on colors. Being familiar with colors can be a great way to describe things around you and also helps in learning any language. Hungarian, being a beautiful and unique language, has its own set of words for different colors. So let's get started and learn some beautiful Hungarian colors.

Basic Colors

Let's start with some basic colors which are frequently used in everyday language.

Hungarian	Pronunciation	English
Piros	[piroʃ]	Red
Kék	[keːk]	Blue
Zöld	[zøld]	Green
Sárga	[ʃɑrgɑ]	Yellow
Narancssárga	[nɑrɑnt͡ʃʃaːrgɑ]	Orange
Fekete	[fɛkɛtɛ]	Black
Fehér	[fɛheːr]	White

Tip: Remember, Hungarian has its own unique phonetics, so make sure to put more emphasis on how to pronounce the words than to spell them.

Compound Colors

Hungarian allows to create more complex and beautiful compound colors by simply adding suffixes to the basic colors. The newly formed words can be used to describe different shades or variations of these basic colors.

Hungarian	Pronunciation	English
Rózsaszín	[roːʒɑːsiːn]	Pink (Rose-coloured)
Sötétkék	[ʃøteːtkeːk]	Dark Blue
Világoszöld	[viłaːgozøld]	Light Green
Arany sárga	[ɑraɲʃɑrgɑ]	Gold Yellow
Tűzpiros	[tyːzpɪroʃ]	Fiery Red

Fun Fact: Hungarian is the only language in the world which has a different name for crimson than red. Crimson is called bordó in Hungarian, which is a colour named after the French city of Bordeaux.

Other Colors

There are some other colors which you might come across and can be useful to know:

Hungarian	Pronunciation	English
Barna	[bɑrnɑ]	Brown
Szürke	[syrkɛ]	Grey
Lila	[lilɑ]	Purple
Tengerkék	[tɛngɛrkeːk]	Teal
Ezüst	[ɛzyʃt]	Silver
Fűzöld	[fyzøld]	Willow Green
Kékeszöld	[kekeʃzøld]	Bluish Green

Tip: Colors are often used to describe the weather in Hungarian. For example, "Szeles nap volt, a tenger hullámai zöld domborain összeverődtek" (It was a windy day, the waves of the sea collected on the green hills)

Dialogue

To better understand the usage of these words, let's go through a small dialogue:

• Person 1: Milyen színű az autód? ('Mi-yen see-nuu ahz auh-toad?' - What colour is your car?)
• Person 2: Az autóm kék. ('Ahz auh-toam kee-k' - My car is blue.)
• Person 1: Ahogy látom, nagyon csinos. ('Ah-go-y laa-toam, nog-yone csi-nos' - As far as I can see, it looks very stylish.)
• Person 2: Köszönöm, nagyon szeretem. ('Koe-sœ-nœm, nog-yone ser-e-tem' - Thank you, I love it very much.)

Conclusion

Now that we have gone through the different colors and their usage in a dialogue, you should be able to use them in your daily conversations. Don't forget to practice and use these words as much as you can. To improve your Hungarian Vocabulary, you can also use Polyglot Club. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

---

➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

With this lesson finished, you may want to explore these additional pages:Hungarian Vocabulary → Basic Hungarian vocabulary → Food and ..., Hungarian Vocabulary → Advanced Hungarian vocabulary → Art ..., Emergency & Drinks.

Other Lessons

• Drinks
• Count from 1 to 10
• Food
• Introduce yourself
• Days of the Week
• Education
• Count to 10
• Love
• How to Say Hello and Greetings
• How to write a letter

Sources

• Hungarian Reference Grammar, Márta Ugrin
• Hungarian: An Essential Grammar, Carol H. Rounds and Erika Sólyom
• Colors in Hungarian – How to learn Hungarian?
• Hungarian vocabulary for beginners: the colors | Hungarian ...
• vocabulary Hungarian colors