Apócopes gramaticales
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A dozen Spanish adjectives have special shortened forms called apócopes. Unlike apocopes like cine and info, which are optional and generally informal, grammatical apocopes are required in specific constructions.
Good and Bad
| adjective | apocope | meaning | |
| bueno | buen | good | |
| malo | mal | bad |
Bueno and malo can either precede masculine nouns (in their shortened form) or follow the noun (in their original form); the latter gives them a slight emphasis.
Por ejemplo…
| Pablo es un buen hombre. | Pablo is a good man. | |
| Pablo es un hombre bueno. | Pablo is a (truly) good man. |
Numbers
Four numbers have apocopes.
| adjective | apocope | meaning | |
| primero | primer | first | |
| tercero | tercer | third | |
| uno | un | one, a | |
| ciento | cien | a hundred |
The first three must be used when they precede a masculine singular noun.
Por ejemplo…
| Este es mi primer coche. | This is my first car. | |
| Tengo un hermano. | I have one brother. |
When the number does not precede a noun but rather stands alone as a pronoun, it maintains its original form:
| Este es el primero. | This is the first one. | |
| Sí, tengo uno. | Yes, I have one. |
The above adjectives are not shortened when used with feminine or plural nouns.
| una hermana | one woman | |
| los primeros coches | the first cars |
Ciento is a special case: it shortens to cien when it precedes a plural noun or when it multiplies the number that follows.
| cien euros | 100 euros | |
| cien mil | 100,000 |
But not when it’s part of a larger number.
| ciento cuarenta | 140 | |
| dos cientos | 200 |
Indefinite Adjectives
| adjective | apocope | meaning | |
| alguno | algún | some | |
| ninguno | ningún | no, none |
These follow the exact same rules as primer and tercer.
Por ejemplo…
| ¿Hay algún baño aquí? | Is there a bathroom here? | |
| No hay ningún problema. | There’s no problem. |
Note that algún and ningún require the addition of an accent in order to maintain the proper word stress.
Masculine and Feminine
Two Spanish adjectives are shortened before a noun of either gender:
| adjective | apocope | meaning | |
| grande | gran | big / great | |
| cualquiera | cualquier | any |
Por ejemplo…
| un gran proyecto | a great project | |
| una gran idea | a great idea |
The meaning of gran is more figative than grande; it means “big” as in “great.”
Santo
The titular adjective Santo is shortened to San when it precedes most masculine saints’ names:
- San Diego
- San José
- San Juan
- San Luís
- San Miguel
- San Tobías
etc.
Exceptions
- Santo Domingo
- Santo Tomás
- Santo Tomé
- Santo Toribio
Many other Spanish words have shortened forms that tend to be informal and/or regional and are optional, unlike the required apócopes explained in this lesson.
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