The Grammar of Colors in German

[addisondemelo]

could someone post a guide of all the basic colors, (colors of the rainbow and brown, pink, black, white etc...) and when their grammar changes due to the sentence they are put in? I'm having trouble distinguishing.

[idkhbtfm]

If you're using the web version, there should be a tips and notes section at the bottom of each skill when you click on it, and that explains things pretty well

[Speakgerman2me]

https://tiny.cards/decks/f4c81112-24a6-4984-8a0e-f1f710bc2648

[jzsuzsi]

The ending changes like for any adjective

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/German/hmr/Grammatik/Adjektive/Adjektivendungen.html

[mizinamo]

Well, not all of the colours -- there are some such as rosa, lila, orange that don't take endings, at least not in the standard language.

Then you have to say either das lila Auto or das lilafarbene Auto, but you can't say das lilae Auto. (Though informally, you may hear das lilane Auto or das lilale Auto.)

[Andreas305]

With "rosa" and "lila" its the same as in french with "marron" or "abricot": they do not change.

eine rosa Blume, ein rosa Buch
eine lila Blume, ein lila Buch

And "orange" is a normal adjektive in German.

eine orange Blume, ein oranges Buch

[mizinamo]

Huh. I thought ein orangenes Buch or ein oranges Buch was non-standard, but Duden admits both ein orange Kleid and ein oranges Kleid.

[gatiquo]

They are declined by number and case like other adjectives.