diff --git a/modules/languages/siren-yaml.el b/modules/languages/siren-yaml.el
index 366763d..8e80d5b 100644
--- a/modules/languages/siren-yaml.el
+++ b/modules/languages/siren-yaml.el
@@ -47,7 +47,41 @@ or *.yaml file in a .github/workflows/ directory."
   :preface
   (defun siren-yaml-mode-setup ()
     (run-hooks 'prog-mode-hook)
-    (setq-local tab-width 2))
+    (setq-local tab-width 2)
+
+    ;; Manually set custom queries for tree-sitter mode, as I don't like the
+    ;; default queries now treating all keys as properties rather than
+    ;; variables, giving them the wrong syntax highlighting color.
+    (setq-local tree-sitter-hl-default-patterns
+                [;; keys
+                 (block_mapping_pair
+                  key: (flow_node [(double_quote_scalar) (single_quote_scalar)] @variable))
+                 (block_mapping_pair
+                  key: (flow_node (plain_scalar (string_scalar) @variable)))
+
+                 ;; keys within inline {} blocks
+                 (flow_mapping
+                  (_ key: (flow_node [(double_quote_scalar) (single_quote_scalar)] @variable)))
+                 (flow_mapping
+                  (_ key: (flow_node (plain_scalar (string_scalar) @variable))))
+
+                 ["[" "]" "{" "}"] @punctuation.bracket
+                 ["," "-" ":" "?" ">" "|"] @punctuation.delimiter
+                 ["*" "&" "---" "..."] @punctuation.special
+
+                 [(null_scalar) (boolean_scalar)] @constant.builtin
+                 [(integer_scalar) (float_scalar)] @number
+                 [(double_quote_scalar) (single_quote_scalar) (block_scalar)] @string
+                 (escape_sequence) @escape
+
+                 (comment) @comment
+                 [(anchor_name) (alias_name)] @function
+                 (yaml_directive) @type
+
+                 (tag) @type
+                 (tag_handle) @type
+                 (tag_prefix) @string
+                 (tag_directive) @property ]))
 
   :config
   (siren-flycheck-setup-yaml-actionlint))