Adjectives that shorten before nouns
In Italian, most adjectives come after the noun they describe. However, a handful of very common descriptive words like bello, buono, grande, and the word quello often come right before the noun. When they do, they can change their shape.
Depending on the gender of the noun and the letter it starts with, these words often drop their final vowel or even an entire syllable. This shortening process is why you will often see bel instead of bello or hear buon instead of buono. It makes the language flow more smoothly.
The adjective buono drops its final vowel to become buon before almost all masculine singular nouns. It only stays buono before tricky sounds, like an "s" followed by another consonant, or a "z".
Similarly, grande can drop its final syllable to become gran before singular nouns (both masculine and feminine) that start with a consonant.
The words bello and quello are a bit more complex. When placed directly before a noun, their endings mimic the patterns of the Italian definite articles (the words for "the").
For example, if a masculine noun takes the article il, you use bel or quel. If it takes l' because it starts with a vowel, you use bell' or quell'. If it takes lo, you use bello or quello.
This shortening rule also applies to the word santo. It becomes San before masculine names starting with most consonants, and Sant' before names starting with vowels.
You will also hear this rule in action in everyday greetings and well-wishes, which often use the shortened form buon.
When common words like bello, buono, grande, and quello appear directly before a noun, they usually drop their final letters. Pay attention to the noun's gender and starting letters to know which shortened form to use.