No son púrpuras, son rojas.
They're not purple, they're red.
Two doctors argue about a color on a monitor, and because they mean several feminine things, the form is rojas.
From Dr. House · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "red" in Spanish
rojo
adjectivefeminine: rojaplural: rojos
"Red" in Spanish is rojo. It agrees with the noun, so you say un bolígrafo rojo but una maleta roja. A few reds use other words: red wine is vino tinto, and a redhead is pelirrojo.
Hear "rojo" in real movie scenes
Two scenes, two feminine forms. Each video starts and stops on that line.
Y con cinta roja
And with the red band
The announcer at the karate final tells the fighters apart by the color of their band, and cinta is feminine, so it's roja.
From El Karate Kid, parte 3 · Spanish audio
Rojo and the reds that use other words
Six phrases. Two of them don't say rojo at all.
| Spanish | English | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| rojo, roja | red | The everyday color word. |
| ponerse rojo | to blush, to go red | Se pone roja. She's blushing. |
| en rojo | red, at a traffic light | El semáforo está en rojo. The light is red. |
| estar en números rojos | to be in the red | Said when an account or a business is losing money. |
| el vino tinto | red wine | For wine, Spanish says tinto. |
| pelirrojo, pelirroja | redhead, red-haired | Made from pelo (hair) and rojo. |
Tip: At a bar, order un vino tinto, or un tinto for short. Asking for vino rojo gives you away as a beginner.
Grammar: rojo, roja, rojos, rojas
Four points for the color red.
Agrees and follows
el bolígrafo rojo, la maleta roja, las maletas rojas. It goes after the noun.Red as a noun
El rojo is the color itself: El rojo es mi color favorito. As a noun it's always masculine.Blushing still agrees
Él se pone rojo. Ella se pone roja. The color matches the person.Say it right
Roll the r at the start, and say the j like a throaty h: RROH-hoh.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
El bolígrafo rojo es nuevo.
The red pen is new.
La maleta es roja.
The suitcase is red.
Son unas maletas rojas.
They're red suitcases.
¿Aprieto el botón rojo?
Should I press the red button?
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗un vino rojo
✓un vino tinto
Red wine is tinto in Spanish.
✗Tiene el pelo rojo. (natural red hair)
✓Es pelirroja.
For natural red hair, Spanish uses pelirrojo or pelirroja.
✗Son unos maletas rojas.
✓Son unas maletas rojas.
Maletas is feminine, so the article and the color both end in -as.
Practice: 3 quick exercises
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1 of 3 · Watch and choose
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The other 32 exercises on this topic are in the app.
How to remember it
Rojo sounds like "ROH-ho". Picture Santa, dressed all in red, laughing "Ho ho".
Questions about "red" in Spanish
How do you say red in Spanish?
Rojo. It changes with the noun: roja, rojos, rojas, as in la maleta roja.
How do you say red wine in Spanish?
Vino tinto, or just un tinto at a bar. Spanish doesn't call wine rojo.
How do you say redhead in Spanish?
Pelirrojo for a man and pelirroja for a woman: Mi hermana es pelirroja.
How do you pronounce rojo?
RROH-hoh. Roll the r, and say the j like a strong, throaty h.
