It’s common to learn your colors in Italian as a beginner, but have you come across any idiomatic expressions using these colors? Some teachers prefer to wait a while before teaching idioms as they can be difficult for students to translate. The very definition of an idiom is a phrase or expression that has a figurative sense and not a literal one. This means that its meaning is difficult to guess, it has to be learnt. I think it’s good for students of Italian to become introduced to a variety of idiomatic expressions as early as possible. So, I like to teach my students idiomatic expressions alongside the vocabulary we learn as the more familiar we become with them, the easier it is to use them when speaking Italian.
Some idioms with colors can be easy for an English speaker to guess as the idioms are similar in English, for example:
La pecora nera – the black sheep
Vedere rosso – to see red
Vedere tutto rosa – to see everything in pink i.e. to have rose-tinted glasses
Before moving on to some other color idioms, let’s have a little recap on colors in Italian. They’re adjectives which means that they describe nouns. They have to agree in both gender and number with the noun they are describing. You can see this in the example above of ‘la pecora nera’. The colour ‘black’ is nero in the singular masculine but nera in the singular feminine, which it is in this case to agree with the feminine singular word for ‘sheep’ - pecora.
Now we can look at some other color idioms which are not so easy to guess:
Bianco – white
Passare la notte in bianco
Literal translation: To spend the night in white
Real meaning: To have a sleepless night
Una settimana bianca
Literal translation: A white week
Real meaning: A week in the mountains skiing or doing other winter sports
Note: This is the common Italian way of talking about a winter skiing holiday
Mangiare in bianco
Literal translation: To eat white
Real meaning: To eat plain food
Note: If you’re not feeling well, your Italian friends might tell you to mangiare in bianco. This means eating plain foods such as pasta or bread but without any sauces or spices, so easier to digest on an upset stomach.
Nero – black
Vedere tutto nero
Literal translation: To see everything in black
Real meaning: To be pessimistic / negative
Una giornata nera
Literal translation: A black day
Real meaning: A bad day
Lavorare in nero
Literal translation: To work in black
Real meaning: To work off the books / to work illegally / to be paid under the table
La cronaca nera
Literal translation: Black news
Real meaning: Crime news
Verde – green
Essere al verde
Literal translation: To be at the green
Real meaning: To be broke, to have no money
Avere il police verde
Literal translation: To have a green thumb
Real meaning: To be good at growing plants
Note: In British English this would be the same as ‘to have green fingers’
Rosso – red
Essere in rosso
Literal translation: To be in the red
Real meaning: To be broke, to have no money
Note: This is the same as essere al verde
Diventare rosso come un peperone
Literal translation: To become as red as a pepper
Real meaning: To be embarrassed / ashamed
Rosa – pink
La cronaca rosa
Literal translation: Pink news
Real meaning: Gossip news
Note: This could also be a gossip column or celebrity news in a newspaper or magazine
Blu / Azzurro / Celeste – all shades of blue in Italian
Avere il sangue blu
Literal translation: To have blue blood
Real meaning: To be of noble birth
Il principe azzurro
Literal translation: The blue prince
Real meaning: Prince Charming
