Like in Mandarin, the word Sek (色) follows a color adjective when used to describe the color of an object.
Colors in Hokkien
- Red → Áng-sek (红色)
- Orange → Kām-uí-sek (橙色)
- Yellow → Uí-sek (黄色)
- Green → Che-sek (青色)
- Blue → Lám-sek (蓝色)
- Purple → Kió-sek (紫色)
- Pink → Cuì-áng-sek (粉红色)
- Gray → Huè-hu-sek (灰色)
- Black → O-sek (黑色)
- White → Peh-sek (白色)
To describe light and dark hues of colors in Hokkien, these two words can be used:
- Chièn (浅), meaning "light", and
- Chim (深), meaning "dark" or "deep"
For instance, to describe the color "light blue", you'd say:
- Light blue → Chièn-lám sek (浅蓝色)
- Dark blue → Chim-lám sek (深蓝色)
Describing Colors and Objects
When describing a color followed by an object, say the color first, followed by the particle e, and an then the object. Here are some examples:
- A green book → Che-sek e chek (青色的书)
- A black cellphone → O-sek e chiu-ki (黑色的手机)
- Two yellow tables → No-kai ui-sek e tok-teng (两个黄色的桌子)
- Five red shirts → Go-tiau ang-sek e sa (五件红色的衫)
- Twenty light blue pants → Ji-cap-tiau chien-lam-sek e kho (二十件浅蓝色的裤子)
Learn to Count in Hokkien
- Let's Count from 0 to 10 in Hokkien
- Counting from 11 to the Hundreds in Hokkien
- Counting from 1,000 to the Millions in Hokkien
