Un malo hábito or Un mal hábito
I found this sentence on another website.
El va a negar que él tenga un malo hábito hasta que tú lo hagas admitirlo.
Our spanishdict reference library says this.
Some adjectives change to a shortened version when they precede a masculine singular noun to aide in pronunciation and flow.
It later goes on to list malo as one of these adjectives that changes to mal.
These statements appear to be in direct contradiction with each other. Should it be "un mal hábito" or "un malo hábito". Are both correct? Gracias de antemano.
3 Answers
I think you can put the adjective in front any time the adjective is implicitly obvious. For example "un mal hábito" implies that it is obvious that the habit is bad whereas "un hábito malo" is basically expressing your opinion that the habit is bad. Is this correct?
No. I can only give you my opinion of what it means and not a book answer.
Un mal niño - a bad kid, not really bad just foolhardy and a jokester. You might say your son is a mal niño if he is getting on your nerves.
Un niño malo - You would not say this about your son, a bad kid through and through. This is a fact not a conjecture and not your opinion, or if it is your opinion it's pretty widely held.
Un mal hábito - having a few beers maybe, or smoking a cigarette.
Un hábito malo - this is something quite clearly bad. Maybe you pick up the occasional prostitute behind your wife's back.
This is how I understand it and it could be wrong. But if it is, my teacher was also wrong and several books, but then on this site you never know when a native will come in and say "nope you are wrong" so who knows.
It should be "un mal hábito" or "un hábito malo"
Gracias.
It should be "un mal hábito" or "un hábito malo"
This answer got me thinking about when to put the adjective in front or behind the verb and when it is correct to do so.
I think you can put the adjective in front any time the adjective is implicitly obvious. For example "un mal hábito" implies that it is obvious that the habit is bad whereas "un hábito malo" is basically expressing your opinion that the habit is bad. Is this correct? Gracias.
