This phrase was composed by the linguist Noam Chomsky in his 1957 book, Syntactic Structures, to demonstrate that a sentence can be grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical. Various people have attempted to explain the meaning of this sentence, with varied success. This page contains versions of this phrase in a variety of languages.
| Language | Colorless green ideas sleep furiously |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Kleurlose groen idees slaap verwoed. |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) |
الأفكار الخضراء عديمة اللون تنام بغضب |
| Belarusian | Бескаляровыя зялёныя ідэі спяць раз’юшана (B′eskaĺarovyja z′aĺonyja іdeі sp′ać razjushana) |
| Breton | Ar joñjoù glas hemp liv a gouska furiet. |
| Bulgarian | Безцветни зелени идеи спят яростно. (Beztsvetni zeleni idei spyat yarostno) |
| Catalan | Les idees verdes incolores dormen furiosament. |
| Central Dusun | Modop i kitoilaan do kotomohon dot aiso wotik miampai do mogod-togod. |
| Coastal Kadazan | Modop i kitoihaan do kotomohon do aiso votik miampai do masang-asang. |
| Chinese (Cantonese) |
冇色嘅綠色諗法嬲爆爆噉瞓住 (Móuhsīk ge luhksīk námfaat nàubaaubaau gám fan zyuh) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) |
沒有顏色的綠色想法怒氣沖沖地睡著 [没有颜色的绿色想法怒气冲冲地睡着] (Méiyǒu yánsè de lǜsè xiǎngfǎ nùqì chōngchōng de shuìzhe) |
| Croatian | Bezbojne zelene zamisli bjesomučno spavaju. |
| Danish | Farveløse grønne idéer sover rasende. |
| Dutch | Kleurloze groene ideeën slapen woedend. |
| Esperanto | Senkoloraj verdaj ideoj furioze dormas. |
| French | Les idées vertes sans couleur dorment furieusement. Les idées vertes incolores dorment furieusement |
| German | Farblose grüne Ideen schlafen heftig. Farblose grüne Ideen schlafen wütend. |
| Hungarian | Színtelen zöld eszmék dühösen alszanak. |
| Irish (Gaelic) | Codlaíonn smaointe glasa neamhdhathach go fíochmhar |
| Italian | Idee verdi senza colore dormono furiosamente. |
| Japanese | 無色の緑色の考えが猛烈に眠る (mushoku no midoriiro no kangae ga mōretsu ni nemuru) |
| Kapampangan | Sásamál lang mátudtúd deng aláng kúleng aluntyáng/bérding kaisípan. |
| Latin | Incoloratae virides cogitationes dormiunt saeviter. |
| Malay | Idea kehijauan tanpa warna tidur dengan marah. |
| Polish | Bezbarwne zielone idee wściekle śpią. |
| Portuguese | As ideias verdes incolores dormem furiosamente. |
| Russian | Бесцветные зелёные идеи спят яростно. (Bestsvetnyye zelyonye idei spyat yarostno) |
| Spanish | Las ideas verdes incoloras duermen furiosamente. Las ideas verdes sin color duermen furiosamente. Ideas incoloras verdes duermen furiosas. |
| Swedish | Färglösa gröna idéer sover rasande. |
| Turkish | Renksiz yeşil fikirler kızgın bir şekilde uyurlar. |
| Urdu | بیرنگ سبز خیالات غصے سے سوتے ہیں. (be-rang sabz khayalat ghuse se sote hain.) |
| Värmlandic | Ferjlös grön idéer sôv vrédesfullt |
| Vietnamese | Những ý kiến xanh (lá cây/lục) không màu sắc ngủ giận dữ. 仍意見𩇢(蘿𣘃/綠)空牟色㬳𢚷㺞. |
| Welsh | Syniadau gwyrdd di-liw sy'n cysgu yn gynddeiriog |
Page suggested by Igor Kusin, with contributions and corrections by Đào Chung Văn, Varga Viktor, Jeronimo Constantina, Andreas Emanuel Berg, Marcos Bermúdez, Yahya Azeri, Елена Христова, Patricia Asunja, Ian You and Connor Hogan.
Here's a little song I wrote inspired by this phrase:
Information about this phrase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously
http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/proseDP/text/colorlessIdeas.html
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/colorless-green-ideas-sleep-furiously.1250832/
http://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?t=31224
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/colourless-green-ideas-sleep-furiously.1521251/
People who have contributed to this section
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
My hovercraft is full of eels | Stop the world, I want to get off! | Say cheese! | Colorless green ideas sleep furiously | I am the king of the chickens | Thingamajig
Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish German, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Swedish, Welsh
Index by phrase | Index by language | Index by language family | Phrase finder
[top]
You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, and if you like what you see on this page, you can use the buttons below to share it with people you know.
If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.
Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com
[top]
