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Spanish Ordinal Numbers: Why They Change
Dieser Beitrag erklärt ein wichtiges Thema der spanischen Grammatik (Text auf Englisch).
Words that Lose Letters
Apocope is a phenomenon that occurs when a word loses one or more sounds at the end, generally for phonetic reasons, which makes pronunciation easier. In general, masculine forms undergo apocope but feminine forms do not, and normally only before the noun. Examples:
🔴 Tengo solo una casa. Tengo solo una. Tengo solo un coche. Tengo solo uno.
Since the forms alguno, ninguno and numbers ending in uno (veintiuno, treinta y uno, etc.) contain the element uno, they undergo apocope in the same way:
🔴 Tengo algún libro en español. Tengo alguno.
🔴 No tengo ningún libro en japonés. No tengo ninguno.
🔴 Tengo veintiún euros. Tengo veintiuno.
Bueno and malo also undergo apocope:
🔴 Es un buen restaurante. Es un restaurante bueno.
🔴 Es un mal profesor. Es un profesor malo.
In some cases, more than one sound is lost, as in san and santo, tan and tanto, gran and grande:
La catedral de san Pablo está en Londres. Pablo es un santo de la Iglesia Católica.
Santo Tomás and santo Domingo do not undergo apocope for phonetic reasons.
In the case of tan and tanto, the first form is an adverb and the second an adjective:
¡Mi casa es tan pequeña! Pero no tengo tanto dinero como para comprar otra.
Grande always undergoes apocope before the noun, both in the feminine and masculine forms:
La casa es grande. Es una gran casa. El coche es grande. Es un gran coche.
However, when the position of “grande” changes, the meaning sometimes changes as well:
El coche es grande (it refers to size).
Es un gran coche (it means it is an excellent car, but not necessarily large).
Another form that undergoes apocope both in the feminine and masculine is cualquiera:
¿Qué libro te gusta? Cualquiera. Me gusta cualquier libro.
¿Qué película te gusta? Cualquiera. Me gusta cualquier película.
The final “a” in “cualquiera” does not indicate that the word is feminine; it is the form “quiera”, from the present of the subjunctive mood of the verb querer.
And now we come to numbers. Cien is the apocope of ciento (in fact, this is how we said it in older Spanish). So we have:
100: cien
but
101: ciento uno, etc.
In ordinal numbers, only primero and tercero undergo apocope (only in the masculine forms). Why not the others? Because, due to the combination of letters, if we removed the final “o” the result would sound phonetically unnatural in Spanish. So we say:
El primer coche es mío. Mi coche es el primero.
El tercer chico es mi hermano. Mi hermano es el tercero.
If you are learning Spanish and find explanations like this helpful, I offer personalised online Spanish lessons for students and adults worldwide, including GCSE and A-Level preparation.
Lessons are available in English or German, and I offer a free initial consultation. You can contact me at laura@spanishforlondon.com.
Example from the episode
Remember that you can read the novel that complements this blog, which I am writing alongside these grammar posts, where you can see examples in context of what we are explaining:
→ “Es la tercera película que hace este año.”
Read the full episode here →
Episode 26
Book your first free demo lesson, with no obligation on your behalf, at laura.@spanishforlondon.com.
Bachelor’s degree in Literature (University of Buenos Aires). Spanish and Literature teacher. Researcher and author of Los premios Nobel de literatura. Una lectura crítica (University of Seville). More than 30 years’ experience teaching Spanish to international students.
One-to-one lessons via Zoom.
Abschluss in Literaturwissenschaft (Universität Buenos Aires). Lehrerin für Spanisch und Literatur. Forscherin und Autorin des Buches Los premios Nobel de literatura. Eine lectura crítica (Universität Sevilla). Über 30 Jahre Erfahrung im Unterricht von Spanisch als Fremdsprache.
Einzelunterricht über Zoom.
