Colours are part of our everyday life. They are one of the categories of basic Indonesian words beginners should know. In daily conversations, we’ll definitely include colours when we want to describe something more specifically to the people we talk to.
Are you familiar with colour vocabulary in Indonesian? Check out the table below to help you learn some colours. There are also example sentences with each colour, as well as how to pronounce them properly. Review about learning Indonesian alphabets and Indonesian language pronunciation guide to help you out.
Here are the Colours in Indonesian Language with vowels and examples:
| Indonesian | English | Example |
| Merah (MER-ruh) |
red | Ia menyukai bunga merah (She likes red flowers) |
| Biru (BEE-roo) |
blue | Langit pagi ini berwarna biru (The sky is blue this morning) |
| Kuning (KOO-neeng) |
yellow | Kami harus memakai seragam berwarna kuning (We must wear yellow uniform) |
| Hitam (HEE-tum) | black | Saya mempunyai seekor anak kucing hitam (I own a black kitten) |
| Putih (POO-teeh) |
white | Gaun itu berwarna putih (That dress is white) |
| merah muda (MER-ruh MOO-duh) | pink | Warna kesukaan putri saya adalah merah muda (My daughter’s favourite colour is pink) |
| Emas (E-muss) |
gold | Pohon Natal itu dihiasi lonceng emas (That Christmas tree is decorated with gold bells) |
| Perak (PER-uck) |
silver | Ia menerima beberapa koin perak (He receives some silver coins) |
| Jingga (JEENG-guh) |
orange | Matahari terlihat jingga sebelum terbenam (The sun looks orange before it sets) |
| Nila (NEE-luh) |
indigo | Pria dengan jaket nila itu adalah kakak saya (The man with the indigo jacket is my big brother) |
| Ungu (OONG-oo) |
purple | Kami membeli syal ungu untuk ulang tahun Mama (We bought a purple scarf for Mom’s birthday) |
| biru muda (BEE-roo MOO-duh) |
light blue | Dinding kamar kami dicat biru muda (Our bedroom door is painted light blue) |
| biru tua (BEE-roo TOO-ah) |
dark blue | Ia masuk ke dalam mobil biru tua (He got into a dark blue car) |
| Hijau (HEE-jow) |
green | Pohon-pohon di Indonesia berwarna hijau sepanjang tahun (The trees in Indonesia are green throughout the year) |
| hijau muda (HEE-jow MOO-duh) |
light green | Kamar dengan tirai hijau muda adalah kamar saya (The room with the light green curtain is my room) |
| hijau tua (HEE-jow TOO-ah) |
dark green | Para tentara menggunakan seragam hijau tua (The soldiers use dark green uniform) |
| Coklat (CHOC-klutt) |
brown | Ia sangat menyukai boneka beruang coklat (She really likes brown bear dolls) |
| Krem (KREM) |
beige | Warna krem membuat saya tenang (The beige colour makes me calm) |
| warna-warni | colourful | Pesta ulang tahun Rita dipenuhi balon warna-warni (Rita’s birthday party is filled with colourful balloons) |
| abu-abu (UH-boo UH-boo) |
grey | Rambut nenek mulai terlihat abu-abu (Grandma’s hair starts appearing grey) |
As you may notice from the table above, in Indonesian, the colour vocabulary is usually written after the object that is being described, for example, bunga merah. This goes the other way around in English, because the colour is mentioned before the object (red flower). Aside from being placed after the object, the colour vocabulary can also be placed after some verbs, for example, berwarna biru, which means ‘coloured blue’. So, Is Indonesia an Easy Language to Learn? Yes.
The Colours in Indonesian Language is pretty simple and if you work on it, you’ll learn Indonesian pretty fast. Hopefully, learning these new vocabularies will help you improve at Indonesian conversations!