To learn a new language is to enter into a new world. And in this new world you’re bound to come across things you didn’t know anything about before (hence why I’m stressing the importance of the concept ‘new world’ here), things that never even crossed your mind before. To speak a foreign language is to look at the world with different eyes – and different eyes will undoubtedly come to see a different world. This is as true for any language as it is for our darling «русский язык» [Russian language]. In Russian there is «много любопытного» [a lot of curious (things)] but because it is pointless to write «обо всем и сразу» [about everything and straight away] lets today focus on one thing and one thing only: «цвета волос и глаз по-русски» [hair and eye colors in Russian]. «Цвета» is the plural form of the noun which in singular looks like this: «цвет» [color; dye, coloring; hue, particular shade of a color; flower; blossom]. When speaking of colors in Russian (or Russian colors for that matter), the first thing that should be noted and remembered well is that sometimes this language differs colors which are not differed in, for example, English (at least not when stated «без уточнения» [without more precise definition] like ‘light’ or ‘dark’, etc). Did you know that there are two adjectives in Russian for the color ‘blue’? These are «синий» [blue; navy blue, dark blue] and «голубой» [blue, azure]. The first one, «синий», belongs to the special group of adjectives called ‘soft adjectives’ – with an ending on «ий» together with masculine nouns, «ее» for neuter, «яя» for feminine and «ие» for plural – and that’s why it has to be declined in the following way:

«У него новый синий костюм» – [He has a new dark blue suit].

«Ты купил синюю краску?» – [Did you buy dark blue paint? (accusative)].

«Вечером море было синее» – [In the evening the sea was dark blue].

«Где я потеряла свои синие перчатки?» – [Where have I misplaced my dark blue gloves?]

On Monday and Tuesday earlier this week I attended a conference at «Южно-Уральский государственный университет» [South Ural State University] «в Челябинске» [in Chelyabinsk]. And I think it would be correct to say that «небо голубое» [the sky is (light) blue)] over the main building on this building.

In Russian, blue «глаза» [pl. eyes; singular: «глаз»] can be both «синие» [dark blue] as well as «голубые» [light blue]. However, brown eyes can not be described as anything else but «карие глаза» [brown, hazel eyes] in Russian. When looking up the color ‘brown’ in the dictionary you’re bound to find three different translations of it: «коричневый», «карий» (also a ‘soft’ adjective!) and «каштановый». Usually the difference in how you should use these adjectives correctly is explained by the following contexts: «коричневый цвет» [the color brown], «карие глаза» [brown eyes] and «каштановые волосы» [brown hair]. So even if you, for example, have eyes the same color as your hair and you’re also wearing a matching t-shirt in the very same color (this color being brown), you have to use three different adjectives in Russian to explain what is really only just one color…

This makes me feel rather lucky to have been blessed with an eye color that doesn’t cause any trouble in Russian: «зелёные глаза» [green eyes]. But then again, my own hair color – known as simply ‘blond’ in English – is described in Russian by two different adjectives: «белокурый» and «светловолосый». Though I think that really my hair color is better described by the adjective «русый» [light brown], which is – it seems to me like it is, anyway – the most common hair color in Russia. Maybe not so strange, if you consider how much it looks like the words «Русь» [Rus] and «русский» [Russian]. Also this hair color is usually defined more precisely in speech by either «тёмно-русый» [darker ligh brown] or «светло-русый» [lighter light brown].

But the truly lucky people out there – who have it easier than everyone else when it comes to explaining their hair color in Russian – are the ones with «чёрные волосы» [pl. black hair] or «рыжие волосы» [pl. red hair]! Those two colors cause no trouble at all in Russian. Let’s finish off today’s post with a couple of useful phrases to know in this context:

Question: «Какого цвета твои глаза?» – [lit. ‘Of what color’ are your eyes?]

Answer: «У меня карие глаза» – [I have brown eyes].

Question: «Какого цвета твои волосы?» – [lit. ‘Of what color’ is your hair?]

Answer: «У меня рыжие волосы» – [I have red hair].

And no, in Russian «волосы не могут быть красными» [hair cannot be ‘red’ (the same adjective used in, for example, the word Red Square)]…