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1  ·  40 words

Colours

Colour names, colour adjectives and words for light and dark.

Korean has two kinds of colour word. Nouns ending in 색 name a colour: 빨간색, red. Five basic colours also have an adjective whose stem ends in h: 빨갛다, to be red — and all five lose that h when they are conjugated: 사과가 빨개요, 빨간 사과. One surprise for English speakers: a green traffic light is 파란불, a “blue light”.

The words

Verb (4)

빨개지다to turn redVerb1
더워서 얼굴이 빨개졌어요.My face went red in the heat.
하얘지다to turn white; to go paleVerb1
놀라서 얼굴이 하얘졌어요.He went pale with shock.
염색하다to dye (hair, cloth)Verb1
머리를 갈색으로 염색했어요.I dyed my hair brown.
칠하다to paint (a surface); to colour inVerb1
벽을 하얗게 칠했어요.We painted the wall white.

This list belongs to The scaffolding — 30 lists and 1195 words that can also be practised as a whole.

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Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 40 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.