Grammar questions on adjectives and nouns

[amitelad]

I'm not sure if ths the place to ask my questions but I'm not quite sure where to go, they all pretty much revolve around the same theme:
1. in japanese (of course ), if i use an adjective and a noun in an incomplete sentence, which comes first? ex. do i write "red dragon"->"akai-ryuu" or "dragon red"->"ryuu-akai".
2. if i want to use something a bit more complicated like "red dragon of summer" or "yellow dragon of autumn",
how can i construct these senteces, i know the individual words and kanji letters, however my japanese is below beginners level .

i apologize for dropping these strange questions on you.
any help will be most welcome.

 

[bakadesu]

akai ryuu.

and I think 'Red Dragon of Summer" would be "natsu no akai ryuu."
and I think 'Yellow Dragon of Autumn" would be "shuuki no kiiro na ryuu."

"kiiro" is an adjectival noun or "na-adjective". Literally, it means "sulfer-colored" (ki = sulfur, iro = color) and takes a "na" when becoming an adjective.

 

[amitelad]

hot damn

thanks for the swift reply.

 

[amitelad]

confusion

however i am now a bit confused (regarding yellow),
i've seen kiiro as a na-adj, a no-adj and kiiroi as an adj,
which one is the correct form?!
and if there is no "correct" form,
what is the difference between them?

 

[amitelad]

autumn

one last thing,
you used shuuki, which is, as far as i found, "autumn air"
where as autumn is aki.
is what i said correct?

 

[Elizabeth]

Re: confusion

Originally posted by amitelad
however i am now a bit confused (regarding yellow),
i've seen kiiro as a na-adj, a no-adj and kiiroi as an adj,
which one is the correct form?!
and if there is no "correct" form,
what is the difference between them?

Kiiro is actually the nominal/noun form. Kiiroi is one of those "i" (not no) adjectives that may also take "na," perhaps creating an ever so slightly more distant or formal impression. And I would use "aki" for the sake of clarity in this case.

If you were asking for instance about the best time to travel to Japan for fall viewing, "koyou" or "akirashiku" kisetsu would be perfectly natural, but as a non-nature related modifier, the season name alone is best.