Short Form Adjectives

Question

Overview

Some adjectives change to a shortened version when they precede a masculine singular noun to aide in pronunciation and flow. These are called apócopes.

Apócopes: Short Form Adjectives

Below you will find a list of the most common adjectives that change to the shortened version. You will see the basic form of the adjective, the shortened version, and the English meaning.

Some Short Form Adjectives

Basic Form	Shortened Form	English
bueno	buen	good
malo	mal	bad
alguno	algún	some
ninguno	ningún	no, none
postrero	postrer	final, last
santo	san	saint
uno	un	one
primero	primer	first
tercero	tercer	third
grande	gran	big

Tildes!

Notice that algún and ningún take on a tilde (written accent) to maintain original intonation.

Exceptions

• Grande changes to gran when it precedes both masculine and feminine singular nouns.
• Santo Tomás and Santo Domingo are the only saints that keep the basic adjective form.

Examples

• Nico es un buen chico. (Nico is a good guy.)
• San Diego (Saint Diego)
• Pablo es el tercer niño. (Pablo is the third child.)
• ¡No seas un mal perro! (Don´t be a bad dog.)

Exercises

1) Change each adjective in parenthesis so that it correctly matches its noun.

Example: La isla de (San/Santo) Juan es un paraíso.

1. Iván es un (gran/grande) amigo.
2. El (primer/primero) capítulo del libro es aburrido.
3. Una (mal/mala/malo) persona me llamé a las 3 y media de la mañana.
4. Delaware es el (primer/primero) estado de los Estados Unidos.
5. Es mi (tercer/100064/tercero) año en la Universidad de Georgia.

Answers

1. gran
2. primer
3. mala
4. primer
5. tercer

• It would help if you told when the shortened form is used (some only before a singular masculine noun like bueno, others before a singular noun either gender like grande) - qfreed 22 de Ago, 2010
• gfreed or paralee...when will i know if it should be bueno or buen ...after read above statement I would love to know! - saramallorca 13 de Ene, 2011
• Ah! Now I get it! Thanks. - Don-Linton 25 de Ene, 2011