Es corta.
It's short.
On a train, someone offers a fellow passenger a story and promises it won't take long, with corta matching the feminine word historia.
From Bullet Train · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "short" in Spanish
corto
adjectivefeminine: cortaplural: cortosshort person: bajo
"Short" in Spanish is corto, or corta with feminine nouns, when you talk about length: una visita corta, una frase corta. For a short person, use bajo or baja instead.
Hear "corto" in real movie scenes
Two scenes, and both use the feminine form. Each video starts and stops on that line.
Sí, una visita corta.
Yes, a short visit.
At a garden party someone is asked what brings them to a city they don't like visiting, and the answer is a short visit.
From This Is the End · Spanish audio
Corto, bajo or breve?
English "short" covers length, height and time. Spanish uses different words.
| Spanish | Use it for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| corto, corta | Length: hair, sleeves, a trip, a sentence | el pelo corto (short hair) |
| bajo, baja | A person's height | Mi abuela es baja. (My grandma is short.) |
| breve | Brief, a little formal | una pausa breve (a short break) |
| los pantalones cortos | Shorts | Llevo pantalones cortos. (I'm wearing shorts.) |
| un corto | A short film | Short for cortometraje. |
| en resumen | In short, to sum up | En resumen, es una buena idea. (In short, it's a good idea.) |
Tip: The opposite of corto is largo, long. Careful: largo never means large. Large is grande.
Grammar: corto, corta
Four points to get "short" right.
Four forms
corto, corta, cortos, cortas. It agrees with the noun: el bolígrafo corto, la frase corta.Length, not height
Corto is for things that have a length. A short person is bajo or baja: Es baja.After the noun
Like most adjectives, it usually follows the noun: una visita corta, pelo corto.Too short
demasiado corta: La manguera es demasiado corta. Demasiado stays the same, and only corto changes.Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
Es una frase corta.
It's a short sentence.
El bolígrafo es corto.
The pen is short.
La manguera es demasiado corta.
The hose is too short.
Sí, una visita corta.
Yes, a short visit.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗Mi hermano es corto (about height)
✓Mi hermano es bajo
For a person's height, Spanish uses bajo.
✗La carretera es corto
✓La carretera es corta
Carretera is feminine, so the adjective ends in -a.
✗el pelo bajo
✓el pelo corto
Hair, sleeves and trips are corto. Bajo describes height.
Practice: 3 quick exercises
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1 of 3 · Watch and choose
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How to remember it
Corto sounds like cut, and in Spanish cortar means to cut. Cut something and it ends up corto.
Questions about "short" in Spanish
How do you say short in Spanish?
Corto, or corta for feminine nouns, when you mean length: una frase corta. For a short person, say bajo or baja.
How do you say "short person" in Spanish?
Una persona baja. Es bajo means he's short. Spanish doesn't use corto for height.
What's the opposite of corto?
Largo, long: una carretera larga. Watch out, because largo doesn't mean large. Large is grande.
How do you say shorts in Spanish?
Los pantalones cortos. A short film is un corto.
