Mal can describe how an action happens or how someone feels.

The idea

As an adverb, mal does not agree in gender or number with the subject.

Examples

  • Dormí mal porque había mucho ruido.I slept badly because there was a lot of noise.
  • La impresora funciona mal esta mañana.The printer is working badly this morning.
  • Si escuchas mal la dirección, pregúntala otra vez.If you hear the address incorrectly, ask for it again.
  • Me siento mal y necesito descansar.I feel unwell and need to rest.
  • Ellos cocinaron mal el arroz.They cooked the rice badly.
  • El teléfono no funciona bien: funciona mal.The phone is not working well: it is working badly.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Spanish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

Malo is an adjective: el arroz es malo describes the rice, not how it was cooked.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the adverb describing how someone slept: Dormí ___ por el ruido. (mal / malo)

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    mal

    Mal describes how the speaker slept.

  2. Choose the opposite of functioning well: El teléfono no funciona bien; funciona ___. (mal / bien)

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    mal

    Mal is the opposite of bien for how the phone works.

  3. Choose the adjective describing the rice: El arroz es ___. (malo / mal)

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    malo

    Malo describes the masculine singular noun arroz after es.

Use it today

Describe something that works badly and say how you feel today.