mal
adverbio
1 (imperfectamente) badly
el negocio les va mal their business is doing badly; está muy mal escrito it's very badly written; han escrito mal mi apellido they've spelt my surname wrong; me entendió mal he misunderstood me; creo que me expliqué mal I don't think I explained what I meant properly
oigo/veo mal I can't hear/see well; lo hice lo menos mal que pude I did it as well as I could; si mal no recuerdo if my memory serves me right; if I remember correctly; mal puedo hablar yo de este asunto I'm hardly the right person to talk to about this
2 (reprobablemente)
se portó muy mal con su mejor amiga she behaved very badly towards her best friend
hacer mal
hace mal en mentir he is wrong to lie
3 (insuficientemente) poorly
la habitación estaba mal iluminada the room was poorly lit; este disco se vendió muy mal this record sold very poorly; this record had very poor sales
sus hijos estaban mal alimentados her children were underfed; un trabajo mal pagado a badly paid job
comer mal
en este restaurante se come mal the food isn't very good in this restaurant; la niña come mal the girl isn't eating properly; the girl is off her food
por falta de dinero comemos mal we aren't able to eat properly because we don't have enough money
4 (sin salud) ill
su padre está bastante mal her father's pretty ill; encontrarse o sentirse mal to feel ill
5 (desagradablemente)
lo pasé muy mal en la fiesta I had a very bad time at the party; les fue muy mal en Inglaterra things went very badly for them in England; ¡no está mal este vino! this wine isn't bad!; no estaría mal ir mañana de excursión I wouldn't mind going on a trip tomorrow
caer mal algn
me cae mal su amigo I don't like his friend
decir o hablar mal de algn to speak ill of sb
llevarse mal
me llevo mal con él I don't get on with him; los dos hermanos se llevan muy mal the two brothers don't get on at all
oler mal
esta habitación huele mal this room smells (bad)
pensar mal de algn to think badly of sb
saber mal
sabe mal it doesn't taste nice
6 (otras locuciones)
estar a mal con algn to be on bad terms with sb
¡menos mal! thank goodness!
menos mal que ... it's just as well (that) ...; it's a good job (that) ...
ir de mal en peor to go from bad to worse
mal que bien more or less; just about
mal que bien lo hemos solucionado we've more or less o just about managed to solve it; mal que bien vamos tirando we're just about managing to get by
tomarse algo (a) mal to take sth the wrong way
1 (maldad)
el mal evil; el bien y el mal good and evil; caer en el mal to fall into evil ways; combatir el mal to fight against evil; echar algo a mal to despise sth
2 (perjuicio) harm
no le deseo ningún mal I don't wish him any harm o ill; hacer mal a algn to do sb harm; el mal ya está hecho the harm o damage is done now; no hay ningún mal there's no harm done
¡mal haya quien ...! a curse on whoever ...!
dar mal a algn to make sb suffer
darse mal to torment o.s.
un mal menor the lesser of two evils
rebajamos los precios, como mal menor we cut the prices, as the lesser of two evils
esa solución no me satisface, pero es un mal menor I'm not happy with that solution, but it could have been worse
parar en mal to come to a bad end
no hay mal que por bien no venga it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good
mal de muchos consuelo de tontos that's no consolation
