Es malo or esta mal

Question

Why is "es" used with malo and "esta" used with mal?

Su español es malo.
Su español esta mal.

Answer 1

I can give you half the answer. The remainder I'll be following myself, to learn more too.

I'm not sure why mal vs malo, or if that's even an absolute rule, but 'es malo' and 'esta mal' have an important difference.

Es, from ser, is used when something is an inherent characteristic, and unlikely to change. This is often used for tall, or short, or smart, or estupido etc. Just the way someone or something is.

Está, from estar, is used mostly for more temporary states.
Está cansado, Esta feliz. Your state of being tired or happy are presumably variable..

So using Es vs Está with such an adjective is also saying something about what you think of a person or their abilities or characteristics too.

Ella es bonita y intelligente. She IS pretty and intelligent.. That´s just the way she is.

Ella está aburrida y cansada. She´s bored and tired (at the moment, she might be engaged and energetic tomorrow)

Now, I await learning about mal vs malo too

thanks roger

Thank you for that explanation rogspax! :-) - 0095ca4c, Jun 26, 2012

Answer 2

Here is a link that will help you:

using malo, mala, and related words

Answer 3

I believe "mal" decribes a singular masculine noun the same way in which you would use buen instead of bueno to describe a singular masculine noun. As for es mal and está malo, your right ser and estar give them different meanings and mal, mala, malo are just used for gender.