This post will teach you how to describe the Serbian colors and appearance of people and things. You will learn to express whether something is red or blue, big or small, beautiful or ugly.
For Serbians, colors are very important because they reflect many things such as the psychological, character, fashion, cultural, and historical aspects. Not only these but also from the aspect of their meaning on flags, the meaning of things like belts in karate, and in the end, what is always interesting is the meaning of the colors of the rose.
So, I will provide you with some useful and interesting information about colors. For starters, let’s talk about how to say Serbian Colors (most common):
Osnovne boje (Primary Colors)
| English | Serbian (Cyrillic) | Serbian (Latin) | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| red | црвена | сrvena | crvena ruža (f) – red rose
crven/crveni šešir (m) – red hat crvena krv (middle) – red blood |
| blue | плава | plava | plave farmerice (f) – blue jeans
plav/plavi trotinet (m) – blue scooter plavo nebo (middle) – blue sky |
| yellow | жута | žuta | žuta kuća (m) – yellow house
žut/žuti peškir (f) – yellow towel žuto pile (middle) – yellow chicken |
Izvedene Or sekundarne boje (Secondary Colors)
| English | Serbian (Cyrillic) | Serbian (Latin) | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| brown | браон | braon | braon čokolada (f) – brown chocolate
braon sat (m) – brown watch braon drvo (middle) – brown wood |
| maroon | бордо | bordo | bordo sofa (f) – maroon sofa
bordo džemper(m) – maroon sweater bordo cucla (midlle) – maroon bottle |
| orange | наранджаста | narandžasta | narandžasta fasada (f) – orange facade
narandžasti bicikl (m) – orange bicycle narandžasto lišće (middle) – orange leaves |
| cream color | беж | bež | bež torba (f) – cream color bag
bež kaiš (m) – cream color belt bež polje (middle) – cream color field |
| navy blue | тегет | teget | teget lopta (f) – navy blue ball
teget automobil (m) – navy blue car teget ćebe (middle) – navy blue blanket |
| turquoise | тиркизна | tirkizna | tirkizna suknja (f) – turquoise skirt
tirkizan/tirkizni ogrtač (m) – turquoise cloak tirkizno more (middle) – turquoise sea |
| purple | љубичаста | ljubičasta | ljubičasta košulja (f) – purple shirt
ljubičasti jastuk (m) – purple pillow ljubičasto cveće (middle) – purple flower |
| green | зелена | zelena | zelena salata (f) – green salad
zelen/zeleni čaj (m) – green tea zeleno drvo (middle) – green tree |
| pink | розе | roze | roze lala (f) – pink tulip
roze suncobran (m) – pink umbrella roze jezero (middle) – pink lake |
Ahromatske boje (Achromatic Colors)
You may have noticed that so far we have not mentioned white and black. This is because white and black are not colors. White is full of light or the sum of all colors, and black is the absence of light. They serve to lighten or darken the colors as chromatic tones (Greek chroma – color). Mixing white and black creates a gray (shadow). White, black, and gray are what we call achromatic tones.
| English | Serbian (Cyrillic) | Serbian (Latin) | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| white | бела | bela | bela majica (f) – white T-shirt
beo/beli mantil (m) – white coat belo mače (middle) – white kitten |
| black | црна | сrna | crna dama (f) – black lady
crn/crni kaiš (m) – black belt crno odelo (middle) – black suit |
| grey | сива | siva | siva čarapa (f) – gray sock
siv/sivi slon (m) – gray elephant sivo ogledalo (middle) – gray mirror |
A Little Bit Of Grammar
I’m sure that you have already noticed that in the names of the colors, the suffix changes depending on the gender of the noun next to them. When placed next to a masculine noun, they can end in a consonant or –i. Also, the continuation -i tells us that the term is known to us and whether the suffix of the consonant in the term is unknown or, more precisely, we are hearing about it for the first time.
Because of these kinds of rules, it can look like Serbian is hard to learn. However, in modern speech, no distinction is made between these two forms. You can pronounce it as you see fit.
If we are talking about the colors standing next to a feminine noun, the suffix is –a. The Serbian language also has a middle grammatical gender (e.g. child, some objects, and things like that). The color next to the noun of that gender ends with -o.
More About Serbian Colors
If there is a light and dark shade of color, Serbians write them together with the name of the color: svetlo plava (light blue), tamno plava (dark blue), svetlo crvena (light red) tamno crvena (dark red), etc.
If an object is colored with opposite shades of colors, we put a dash between the words, for example, crno – belo (black and white) shirt, or crveno-plavo-bela zastava (red-blue-white flag) as the colors of the Serbian flag.
Of course, there are many more colors, but these are the basic ones. For example, painters use a whole range of colors with strange names, such as Burnt Sienna (baked hay, a type of brown color), Prussian Blue (Prussian blue).
Finally, let me mention that there are a lot of idioms, expressions in the Serbian language, which contain colors.
For example:
– Crna ovca u porodici (black sheep of the family.)
– Imaš plavo oko vrata. (You have blue around your neck. ) Serbians say it when someone is very boring and wants to ” strangle” whoever they are talking to.
– Bela zastava (white flag) is a symbol of surrender.
Appearance And Attributes
| English | Serbian (Cyrillic) | Serbian (Latin) |
| new | ново | novo |
| old | старо | staro |
| small | мало | malo |
| large / big | велико | veliko |
| young | младо | mlado |
| kind / pleasant | љубазно / пријатно | ljubazno / prijatno |
| unkind / unpleasant | нељубазно | neljubazno |
| patient | стрпљиво | strpljivo |
| tall (people) | висок | visok |
| middle sized (people) | средњег раста | srednjeg rasta |
| small (people) | низак | nizak |
| fat | дебео | debeo |
| thin / slim | танак / мршав | tanak / mršav |
| nice / pretty | лепо | lepo |
| beautiful | прелепо | prelepo |
| ugly | ружно | ružno |
| ill / sick | болесно | bolesno |
| healthy | здраво | zdravo |
| happy / cheerful | срећно / раздрагано | srećno / razdragano |
| sad | тужно / несрећно | tužno / nesrećno |
| sporty | спортски | sportski |
| ambitious | амбициозан | ambiciozan |
| intelligent | интелигентно | inteligentno |
| creative | креативно | kreativno |
| active | активно | aktivno |
| sentimental | сентиментално | sentimentalno |
| rational | рационално | racionalno |
| emotional | осећајно | osećajno |
| natural | природно | prirodno |
| romantic | романтично | romantično |
| nice / amiable | пријатан | prijatan |
| spontaneous | спонтано | spontano |
| energetic | енергично | energično |
| stressed (out) | под стресом | pod stresom |
| relaxed | опуштено | opušteno |
| frustrated | фрустрирано | frustrirano |
| talented | надарено | nadareno |
If you want to learn these along with other useful Serbian words and phrases, you should consider using language learning apps like Ling App.
