Feeling good/well/bad/badly?
Hello.
The other day, watching a TV show, I heard the actors saying a lot of "I feel good/bad". I thought that, when you're answering the question "how do you feel?", the answer should be, for instance, "I feel well", because you need an adverb to modify the verb "to feel".
Also, when I say "I feel badly?, I can't avoid to think that I'm describing how is my sense of touch, as in "I feel badly, because my hands are numb from the cold".
So, which is the correct form?
2 Answers
'I feel good' 'I feel fine' 'I feel bad' 'I don't feel great' - these are all sort of stock answers given when someone asks 'how are you feeling?', because it's such a common question in English like 'how are you' and 'hey, whats up', people tend to give a generic answer such as the above. 'I feel well' isn't really used as it doesn't sound quite right in english, people tend to stick to 'I feel good thanks' as the general answer,
does that help at all?
Using an adverb such as badly, as in your example, 'I feel badly' makes the verb feel become active, and change the meaning to literally your sense of touch, just as you stated in your example - whereas when referring to your state of mind just a generic adjective sits fine.
Also, when I say "I feel badly?, I can't avoid to think that I'm describing how is my sense of touch, as in "I feel badly, because my hands are numb from the cold".
Has entendido correctamente bien. Por eso es correcto decir "I feel good / bad" pues no estás usando "good / bad" como adverbio de una acción, sino estás explicando el estado en que te encuentras por el momento.
Te felicito por haber compredido como funciona esta parte de la gramática inglesa pues hay muchos nativos que aun siguen bien confundidos.
"I feel well" más bien quiere decir "No me siento enfermo."
