The 'i' ending of an adjective

[easonko]

Hello guys I have a little question here,

Blue is Aoi in Japanese as we all know, is the 'i' ending exceptional when not used before a noun?

Example:
aoi kuruma (blue car)

what about 'It is blue'? is it 'Aoi desu' or 'Ao desu'? or they both works?

thank you very much

 

[Aurura]

I believe its' still "aoi" for 'Aoi desu' (or in a question form, 'Aoi desu ka').

For colors especially, 'i' must be added since colors describe something. The only exception I know of is "midori" wich already has an 'i', so no extra 'i' is added.

 

[Toritoribe]

In Japanese, the four colors (赤[aka], 青[ao], 黒[kuro], 白[shiro]) are special. They are nouns, and can be used as i-adjectives, too. Also, 黄色[kiiro] "yellow" and 茶色[chairo] "brown" can act as i-adjectives as well only when with 色[iro.]

○赤い[akai] 青い[aoi] 黒い[kuroi] 白い[shiroi]
○黄色い[kiiroi] 茶色い[chairoi]

×黄い[kii] 茶い[chai] 緑い[midorii] 紫い[murasakii] 桃い[momoi]
×緑色い[midoriiroi] 紫色い[murasakiiroi] 桃色い[momoiroi]


So, both "aoi desu" and "ao desu" are correct.
as a noun:
その車は何色ですか？[Sono kuruma wa nani iro desu ka?]
What's the color of the car?
青です。[Ao desu.]
It's blue.

as an i-adjective:
その車は青いです。[Sono kuruma wa aoi desu.]
The car is blue.

 

[Red5]

thanks you very much in your explanation
ありがと，お元気て

 

[easonko]

In Japanese, the four colors (赤[aka], 青[ao], 黒[kuro], 白[shiro]) are special. They are nouns, and can be used as i-adjectives, too.

Thank you, so for other colors they do have an 'i' ending as well as serving as an 'i' adjectives?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes. As I wrote in my previous post, they (akai, aoi, kuroi, shiroi, kiiroi, chairoi) are all i-adjectives. So, of course, they conjugate as i-adjectives like "akai," "akakunai," "akakatta," "akakereba"...

 

[Glenn]

..."midori" wich already has an 'i', so no extra 'i' is added.

みどり doesn't have an い, actually. This is one of the dangers of using rômaji. Remember that consonants must be followed by a vowel in Japanese (with the exception of the very exceptional ん), so there is no Japanese equivalent of "m" or "r," for example.