⇒ Some Spanish adjectives need to be shortened when they come before a singular masculine noun. The fancy term for this shortening process is apocopation.

Original Adjective	Shortened Adjective	Example
bueno	buen	Nico es un buen chico.
malo	mal	No seas un mal amigo.

⇒ Quite a few common adjectives are shortened before masculine singular nouns. Here's a list of some you're likely to come across:

Original Adjective	Shortened Adjective	English
bueno	buen	good
malo	mal	bad
uno	un	one, a
primero	primer	first
tercero	tercer	third
ciento	cien	one hundred
cualquiera	cualquier	any, whatever
alguno	algun	some
ninguno	ningún	none

⇒ Santo is an adjective that is shortened only before certain nouns.

⇒ It is not shortened with names that begin with Do- or To- or when it precedes a common noun.

San Francisco Saint Francis

San Miguel Saint Michael

Santo Domingo Saint Dominic

Santo Tomás Saint Thomas

el santo templo the holy temple

todo el santo día all day long (literally: the whole sainted day)

Big Changes:

⇒ Grande is shortened when it precedes both masculine and feminine singular nouns.

Vive en una gran casa. She lives in a great house.

Es un gran músico. He is a great musician.

Big Exceptions:

⇒ The short form of grande is not used when:

• it's used in the comparative or superlative
• it's used in an exclamatory with the word cuán
• when it appears in coordination with other adjectives

Soy más grande que tú. I'm bigger than you.

Es el festival más grande del mundo. It's the biggest festival in the world.

Todavía no se sabe cuán grandes serán las pérdidas. How great the losses will be is still unknown.

La grande y noble nación mexicana superará esto. The great and noble Mexican people will rise above this.