Unit 10: Structures with “hacer,” introduction to perfect tenses, translation considerations (part 1)

10.3 Shortened Forms of Adjectives

Various adjectives drop the final –o before masculine singular nouns or adjectives preceding it. This shortened (apocopated) form should not cause any comprehension difficulty.

alguno

algún día – some day

bueno

un buen hombre – a good man

malo

un mal examen – a bad exam

ninguno

ningún dinero – no money

primero

el primer día – the first day

tercero

el tercer mes – the third month

uno

un buen ejemplo – a/one good example

Bueno and malo may also follow the noun without any change in meaning:

El señor Barrales es un muy buen hombre.

El señor Barrales es un hombre muy bueno.

Mr. Barrales is a very good man.

The adjective cualquiera (“any”) drops the -a before any singular noun:

Te veo cualquier día. I can see you any day.
Lee cualquier novela que encuentra. He reads any novel he finds.

Cualquiera is also used as a pronoun to mean “anyone”:

Cualquiera puede comprender eso. Anyone can understand that.

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