Colors in Finnish

punainen

Say it: POO-nai-nen. In Finnish, stress is always on the first syllable.

Red is punainen, blue sininen, green vihreä, yellow keltainen, black musta, white valkoinen.

The colors

English	Finnish
red	punainen
blue	sininen
green	vihreä
yellow	keltainen
black	musta
white	valkoinen
grey	harmaa
brown	ruskea
orange	oranssi
purple	violetti
pink	vaaleanpunainen

Colors agree with the noun

Finnish adjectives take the same number and case as the noun they describe. So you get punainen talo ("a red house"), punaisessa talossa ("in the red house") and punaiset talot ("red houses"). The dictionary form ends in -nen, but that ending changes to -s- in most other forms.

Vaaleanpunainen ("pink") is literally "light red", from vaalea ("light") plus punainen.

Example sentences

Talo on punainen.The house is red.
Suomen lippu on sininen ja valkoinen.The Finnish flag is blue and white.
Onko sinulla sininen takki?Do you have a blue coat?
Haluan mustaa kahvia.I'd like black coffee.

Common questions

How do you say "red" in Finnish?

Punainen.

What colors is the Finnish flag?

Sininen ja valkoinen (blue and white).

Related words

Meet a Finnish word you don't know?

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