Estoy malo

Question

There was a question before on mal and malo that didn't quite answer my question. In one of my Spanish books, it translates "I'm unwell" as "estoy malo/a" but then elsewhere it translates "I feel unwell" as "me siento mal", so can anyone clarify the difference please and thanks.

Welcome to SpanishDict. - rac1, Aug 28, 2015

Answer 1

Well ... Falda is right ... the answer to your question is that when we use this word as an adjective we have to take care of its grammatical gender too .. for example .. ella es muy mala .. *she is a bad woman" or "el es muy malo" ,,,, in these two examples malo and mala have to correspond to the gender of the respective nouns they modify or quality (or pronouns) ... on the other hand if we use it in the capacity of an adverb it will just be mal,, becuse as an adverb (in your example) it corresponds to a verb and a verb doesn't have any grammatical gender .. so if we say .. siento mal .. (mal here is acting as an adverb that is further qualifying the verb sentir ) .... now both of your sentences mean the same thing .. they are just two different ways of saying the same thing .. for example we can also say it in english .. that "I am unwell (estoy malo) .. and we cal also say "i am feeling ill/sick/unwell (yo siento mal) ... I hope you understand what I just explained above..

another bonus expression for your : you could also say "me encuentro mal" .. which also losely translates as "I feel unwell ..

Answer 2

I wonder if 'mal' in 'me siento mal' is actually working as an adverb as opposed to an adjective, thus doesn't need o/a at the end... ?

You are right amigo - Joydeep_Singh, Aug 28, 2015

Answer 3

Maybe, thank you. One of the problems of learning a language is you have to understand grammer as well!

its not maybe my friend, thats exactly what it is .. Falda is right .. see my explanation and I hope you understand how the grammar works .. - Joydeep_Singh, Aug 28, 2015

Answer 4

Leaving aside the gender issue, if it were a case of adjective vs adverb, using the positive of being well as opposed to unwell, using the same 2 verb constructions, you surely would never say (meaning I am well) "estoy bueno" whereas "me siento bien" sound fine, would you? Thanks

Its .. estoy bien .. or siento bien .. or me encuentro bien .. bueno can also be used .. but that would translate to .. i am doing good .. don't get confused .. they are just different ways of saying the same thing .. as we do in english - Joydeep_Singh, Aug 28, 2015

and bien is a neutral adjective .. so regardless of whether you use it as an adjective or adverb .. it will stay the same : bien - Joydeep_Singh, Aug 28, 2015

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/174334/is-estoy-bueno-gramatically-correct - bosquederoble, Aug 28, 2015

In English we say 'I'm fine'. I've often thought 'fine' & 'bien' sound similar & wonder if they're etymologically related (although I suspect not, English 'fine' probably deriving from French 'fin(e)')... ;-) - Faldaesque, Aug 28, 2015

For anyone who does not want to bother to read my link- to my understanding estoy bueno has pretty much come to mean I'm hot, I'm sexy (buena for a female)- Estoy bueno y lo sé (JK). :) - bosquederoble, Aug 28, 2015