Shortened Adjectives (Buen, Mal, Gran)

A small but important group of Spanish adjectives shorten when they come before a masculine singular noun. This process is called apócope. The rule only applies in that specific position — when the noun is masculine singular and the adjective comes before it.

The Short Forms

Full formShort formExample
buenobuenun buen libro
malomalun mal día
primeroprimerel primer piso
tercerotercerel tercer capítulo
unounun amigo
algunoalgúnalgún día
ningunoningúnningún problema

Notice that alguno and ninguno add an accent when they shorten: algún, ningún. See Alguno and Ninguno for more.

When the Short Form Is NOT Used

All of these adjectives keep their full form when:

  • they come after the noun
  • the noun is feminine (singular or plural)
  • the noun is plural (masculine or feminine)
ContextFormExample
Before masculine singularbuenun buen libro
After a nounbuenoun libro bueno
Femininebuenauna buena idea
Masculine pluralbuenosunos buenos libros
Feminine pluralbuenasunas buenas ideas

Es un buen amigo.

He's a good friend.

Es una buena amiga.

She's a good friend.

Tuvimos un mal día.

We had a bad day.

Vivo en el primer piso.

I live on the first floor (US: second).

Grande Is Special

Grande shortens to gran before any singular noun — masculine or feminine. But only in the singular.

ContextFormExample
Before masculine singulargranun gran hombre
Before feminine singulargranuna gran mujer
Before masculine pluralgrandesunos grandes hombres
Before feminine pluralgrandesunas grandes mujeres
After any noungrande / grandesun hombre grande

There's more: gran before the noun usually means great (important, admirable), while grande after the noun means big (physical size). See Adjectives That Change Meaning by Position.

Es un gran hombre.

He's a great man.

Es un hombre grande.

He's a large man.

Santo Becomes San

The adjective santo (saint) shortens to San before most male saint names.

  • San Juan, San Francisco, San Martín, San Pedro

But it stays as Santo before names beginning with To- or Do-:

  • Santo Tomás, Santo Domingo

And it stays as Santa for female saints:

  • Santa María, Santa Rosa, Santa Bárbara

La iglesia de San Juan está en la plaza.

The church of Saint John is on the square.

Vive en Santo Domingo.

He lives in Santo Domingo.

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The short forms are only used before the masculine singular noun. If the adjective moves after the noun, the full form returns: un buen libro but un libro bueno.

Pulling It Together

Hoy es un buen día para hacer algún deporte.

Today is a good day to play some sport.

No tengo ningún problema con eso.

I have no problem with that.

Fue un gran éxito en su primer concierto.

It was a huge success at her first concert.

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Learn the short forms as a group. They all share the same pattern — drop the final -o before a masculine singular noun — and they're among the most common words in the language. Once you internalize them, they start sounding automatic.

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