Why is it estoy mal, and not estoy malo

Question

On other websites I have seen it as estoy malo

Answer 1

Ok thanks a lot guys. But in Lesson 1 they say Estoy mal. Isn't that "I am badly"

and Estoy malo would be "I am bad"?

Estoy mal = I am ill / I am not well. - samdie, Aug 12, 2010

Answer 2

Remember that the adjectives modify nouns and adverbs modify verbs.

malo/a is an adjective

and mal, an adverb -poorly (done/made etc)

but one tricky thing is that if you use the adjective before a noun it drops it's 'o' and become mal.

Él es un mal hombre.

Here's a different example:

La niña es mala [adjective] porque se porta muy mal [adverb] -

The girl is bad because she behaves very badly.

I hope some of that helps

Answer 3

Hi, welcome to the forum. It depends what do you whant to say. Estoy malo means I am bad. Estoy mal - I feel bad.