USAGE NOTE
Before singular masculine nouns, "malo" becomes "mal."
An adjective is a word that describes a noun (e.g., the big dog).
adjective a. bad Si el vino que usas es malo, la salsa saldrá ácida. If the wine you use is bad, the sauce will turn out acidic.
b. poor Pedro tiene tan mala letra que los profesores nunca entienden lo que escribe. Pedro has such poor handwriting that teachers can never make out what he writes.
a. bad Aléjate de él. Es un hombre malo. Stay away from him. He's a bad man.
b. evil Algunas personas son malas por naturaleza. Some people are naturally evil.
a. sick Está malo desde anoche. Vamos a llamar al médico. He's been sick since last night. We're going to call the doctor.
b. ill Caí mala el lunes y estuve en cama toda la semana. I fell ill on Monday and was in bed all week.
a. bad Soy muy mala para cocinar. I'm really bad at cooking.
a. bad Beber en exceso es malo para la salud. Drinking too much is bad for your health.
a. bad Hoy el clima está muy malo. The weather is very bad today.
a. naughty Era un cachorro tan malo que tuvimos que regalarlo. He was such a naughty puppy that we had to give him away.
a. mean No seas tan malo con tu hermana. Déjala jugar contigo. Don't be so mean to your sister. Let her play with you.
a. bad Esta carne ya está mala. This meat has gone bad.
This means that the noun can be masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the noun it refers to (e.g., el doctor, la doctora).
masculine or feminine noun a. villain Ella es la mala de la película. She's the movie's villain.
b. baddy
A word or phrase that is commonly used in conversational speech (e.g., skinny, grandma).
(colloquial) La protagonista se enamora de uno de los malos. The protagonist falls in love with one of the baddies.
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