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The 1-2-3 challenge

Join Scottish pupils as they give Mandarin a go!

Tip: This video can be used as an interactive introduction to this topic or as a recap on key vocabulary and phrases already learnt.

Remember!

It doesn't matter if your pronunciation isn't perfect. Try your best and have fun!

There are two different ways to say each colour in Mandarin.

To start, there are colours as nouns in Mandarin, eg ‘the colour red’ or ‘the colour black’.

Click on the colours below to learn what they are in Mandarin:

Here are the same words in a table:

MandarinPinyinEnglish
hóng sèred
hēi sèblack
bái sèwhite
huáng sèyellow
zǐ sèpurple
chéng sèorange
fěn sèpink
zōng sèbrown
lán sèblue
lǜ sègreen

Likes and dislikes

To say what you like and don't like, you can use the phrases:

  • Wǒ xǐ huān - I like

  • Wǒ bù xǐ huān - I don’t like

Boy wearing glasses

You can use those phrases to talk about the colours you like and don't like, by adding a colour at the end:

Examples:

  • Wǒ xǐ huān zǐ sè - I like the colour purple

  • Wǒ bù xǐ huān bái sè - I don’t like the colour white

Colours as adjectives

A boy wearing a green hat.

To use colours as adjectives in Mandarin, the particle ‘ de’ is added at the end to express possession.

For example, to describe the colour of on object, eg clothing, as red in Mandarin you would need to use hóng sè de, rather than hóng sè. Here are some other examples:

A boy wearing a green hat.
  • zōng sè de kù zi - brown trousers

  • lán sè de duǎn qún - blue skirt

  • lǜ sè de máo yī - green jumper

  • chéng sè de dà yī - orange coat

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 2, , 棕色的裤子 zōng sè de kù zi

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