chairoi vs chairo no

[Jay3205]

Is it correct Japanese to say "chairoi kuruma" instead of "chairo no kuruma" for brown car? I have learned that chairo was like midori, but is it all right to add the -i on the end of it?

[Apache Dawn]

I'm not sure. I would just go with "chairoi" because I already know that it's a adjective, even if it can be put "chairo no-." It's is probably more common as "chairoi." You will have to get someone more familiar with the language to verify this though.

[richvh]

Yes. 茶色い (chairoi), brown, is one of a handful of colors that are -i adjectives. The others:

白い (shiroi) white
黒い (kuroi) black
赤い (akai) red
青い (aoi) blue/green
黄色い (kiiroi) yellow
(I think that's all, did I miss any?)

The rest are nouns, usually ending in 色 (iro, color), and must be followed by "no" if modifying another noun.

[shin1ro]

i-adjectives' variations with prefixes:

真っ白い まっしろい totally white
真っ黒い まっくろい totally black
薄白い うすじろい light colored (rare?)
薄黒い うすぐろい dark colored (rare?)
薄赤い うすあかい light red (rare?)
薄青い うすあおい light blue (rare?)
薄黄色い うすきいろい light yellow (rare?)
薄茶色い うすちゃいろい light brown (rare?)
赤黒い あかぐろい dark red
青黒い あおぐろい dark blue
浅黒い あさぐろい brown, tanned (normally for skin)
どす黒い どすぐろい (negatively disgusting) black, (bloody) dark red

(richvh, I don't think you missed )

-shin1ro