Shortening of Certain Adjectives

Name a grammar rule, and somewhere there's likely to be an exception. One of the exceptions in Spanish is known by grammarians as apocopation — the shortening of certain adjectives when used before certain nouns. For example, I might say that you are bueno or buena, but in a sentence I'd refer to un buen hombre. Other adjectives that are sometimes shortened are grande, which becomes gran, and primero, which becomes primer. Spanish has about a dozen adjectives that fit this category.