5 Adjectives
Adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun to which they relate (for
examples see 2.6, 3.1.1, 3.2.1).
5.1 Shortening of adjectives
Some adjectives are shortened when used before a singular masculine noun or before
another adjective which precedes a singular masculine noun, e.g.:
el primer día del verano‘the first day of summer’
tu primer gran éxito‘your first great success’
But:
de primera clase‘first-class’
Such adjectives are:
Full form Shortened form
alguno algún
bueno buen
malo mal
ninguno ningún
primero primer
tercero tercer
(a)Grande is shortened to gran before any singular noun:
un gran error‘a great mistake’
la gran sala‘the large hall’
But sometimes in literary style the full form is used in the meaning of ‘great’, ‘highly
regarded’:
Fue obra de aquel grande escritor.
It was a work by that great writer.
(b)Cualquiera is shortened to cualquier before any singular noun (see
also 13.5):
cualquier día‘any day’
cualquier chica‘any girl’
