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Like most languages, Spanish makes wide use of acronyms and abbreviations. Here Paul Whitelock casts his eye over some of the more common ones.
In Spanish many acronyms are the reverse of the English version, eg U.E. instead of E.U., O.N.U. instead of U.N.O. and O.T.A.N. for N.A.T.O. This is because adjectives follow the noun in Spanish rather than precede it as in English.
As for acronyms of plurals in Spanish they simply double the letter, eg EE.UU. (Estados Unidos – USA), FF.CC. (Ferrocarriles – Railways), JJ.OO. (Juegos Olímpicos – Olympic Games),
Here are some more:
AA.AA. (Antiguos Alumnos = F.P. – Former Pupils)
AA.EE. (Asuntos Exteriores – Foreign Affairs)
A.VV. (Asociación de Vecinos – Neighbourhood Association)
CC.AA. (Comunidades Autónomas – Autonomous Communities)
CC.OO. (Comisiones Obreros – Trades Unions)
NN.UU. (Naciones Unidas – United Nations)
PP. (Padres – Fathers, ie priests)
RR.PP. (Relaciones Públicas = P.R. – Public Relations)
SS.MM. (Sus Majestades – Their Majesties)
The Spanish are keen on abbreviations of all kinds and often use them for important dates, eg:
11-S (11 de septiembre 2001) = 9/11
11-M (11 de mayo de 2004) – the date of the Madrid train bombings
15-M (15 de mayo de 2011) as in el Movimiento 15-M – the date of the formation of the peaceful political protest movement in Spain
Names are frequently abbreviated too, especially if they are religious ones, for example: Inmaculada (Inma), Concepción (Conchi), Montserrat (Montse) and Encarnación (Encarni).
Other common abbreviations for names are: Francisco (Paco, Curro); José (Pepe); Francisca (Paqui); Natalia (Nati) and all the variations on the theme of María, including Paz, Mar, Carme, Pili. Common surnames are also cut short, eg Fdz (Fernández), Glz (González) and Gcía (García).
Two very common and recently coined abbreviations are porfa for por favor and finde instead of fin de semana.
Hasta luego.
