English: Colours & Shapes

Level: A1. Colours and shapes are everywhere — describing clothes, objects, signs and directions. They are adjectives, so once you know the words, the grammar is easy: they sit before the noun and keep one form.

By the end of this page you can…

…name the common colours and shapes, put a colour before a shape, ask What colour is it? and What shape is it?, and avoid adding a plural -s to the adjective.

Colours

Start with the colours you will meet most often.

Colour	Note
red, blue, green, yellow	the brightest, most common
black, white, grey	grey (British) / gray (American)
brown, orange, pink, purple	everyday colours
light blue / dark blue	add light or dark for shades

To talk about shade, put light or dark in front: light green, dark red. To say a colour is bright or soft, use bright or pale: a bright yellow coat, a pale pink wall.

Shapes

The core shapes cover almost everything you will need to point at.

Shape	Looks like
circle	a round ring, like a coin
square	four equal sides
rectangle	a longer four-sided box
triangle	three sides
oval	a stretched circle, like an egg
star	a pointed star shape
heart	a love-heart shape

To describe the form of something, you have two patterns: It is round / square. or It is shaped like a star. / It is in the shape of a heart.

Putting colour and shape together

Both colours and shapes are adjectives, and English has a fixed order: colour comes before shape, and both come before the noun.

a red circle · a blue square · a green triangle
a small yellow star → size, then colour, then the noun

The adjective never takes a plural -s, even when the noun is plural: two red circles, not two reds circles.

Asking about colour and shape

Two simple questions get you the answer:

What colour is it? — It’s blue.
What shape is it? — It’s a triangle. / It’s round.
What colour are they? — They’re red.

Example sentences

Play each line and say it along with the audio.

The sky is blue.

A basic colour sentence with 'be'.
My car is red.

Colour after 'be' to describe a thing.
She has a green bag.

Colour before the noun: green bag.
I like the yellow flowers.

The adjective keeps one form before a plural noun.
His shoes are black.

A plural subject, one colour word.
This is a light blue shirt.

'Light' gives a paler shade.
The walls are dark grey.

'Dark' deepens the colour; British spelling grey.
Draw a circle, please.

'Circle' is the noun for the shape.
The window is square.

'Square' used as an adjective after 'be'.
A football is round.

Describe the form with the adjective 'round'.
The sign is a red triangle.

Colour before shape: red triangle.
I drew a small yellow star.

Size, colour, then the noun.
The box is a long rectangle.

A longer four-sided shape.
The mirror is oval.

'Oval' is like a stretched circle.
The card has a pink heart on it.

Colour before the shape noun.
What colour is your coat?

The key question about colour.
What shape is the table?

The key question about shape.
It's shaped like a star.

'Shaped like' describes the form.
There are three green circles.

Plural noun, but 'green' stays the same.
The clock is round and white.

Two adjectives joined with 'and'.

Recap card for the English colours and shapes lesson: colour before shape, no plural on the adjective

Quick recap before you practise.

How to say it

A few colour and shape words are easy to mispronounce — copy the sounds.

colour / color both sound the same: “KUH-ler”, not “ko-lour”.
circle is “SUR-kuhl” — the first c is an s sound.
triangle is “TRY-ang-guhl”, three syllables.
orange is “OR-inj”, with a soft g at the end.

Practice

Colours and shapes practice

Try each one, then press Check. No sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere — it all runs in your browser.

1 Match each shape to what it looks like.

circle Match for circle
triangle Match for triangle
rectangle Match for rectangle
oval Match for oval

Show answer

circle → a round ring
triangle → three sides
rectangle → a longer box
oval → a stretched circle

Linking each name to its picture fixes the shape words in memory.

2 Fix the plural: I bought three ____ apples. (colour = red)

Hint: the colour word never adds -s

Show answer

red — Adjectives have one form: three red apples, not reds apples.

3 Complete the question: ____ colour is your car?

Hint: a question word

Show answer

What — Ask 'What colour is it?' to find out an object's colour.

4 Which order is correct? a circle red a red circle red a circle circle a red

Show answer

a red circle — Colour comes before the shape noun: a red circle.

5 Which sentence is correct? Two greens doors. Two green doors. Two green door. Two doors greens.

Show answer

Two green doors. — The colour word stays the same before a plural noun: two green doors.

6 Put the words in order.

Show answer

It is a yellow triangle — Colour before shape: It is a yellow triangle.

Quiz

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English: Colours & Shapes

By the end of this page you can…

Colours

Shapes

Putting colour and shape together

Asking about colour and shape

Example sentences

How to say it

Practice

Colours and shapes practice

Quiz

Colours and shapes quiz

Next

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