'Leather jacket'. Is this [noun + noun]. Or [Adjective + noun]? - He's wearing black jeans and a leather jacket. I've got a BIG problem. When I see a [noun + noun] construction, I think the first noun turns into an adjective. I always get confused about this. Why? If I translate the term 'Leather jacket' into my mother tongue, the first word turns into an adjective automatically. Not exactly the word 'Leather-like' in English, in fact a real adjective word for 'Leather'. We've got a different adjective word for every single noun. Example: چرم = 'Leather' --> Noun چرمی = This is an adjective in my mother tongue. سوال = 'Question' --> Noun سوالی = This is an adjective in my mother tongue. You English people call it 'Interrogative'. On the other hand, I think 'Leather jacket' can be a compound noun in English. Let's analyse it: 'Leather' is a noun, and 'Jacket' is a noun, so when we put them together it makes a compound noun. In my mother tongue, 'Leather jacket' is not [noun + noun], it turns to [Adjective + noun].That is the issue. My question is: The word 'Leather' NEVER can be an adjective in English? Is 'Leather jacket' a compound noun, in fact? Am I wrong about turning the first noun into an adjective in English?