Mal Carácter

Question

Is mal carácter a noun or an adjective? E.g. Juan tiene mal caracter or Juan es mal caracter?

Now that I've answered your question, would you be so kind as to go back to your profile page and indicate your levels of proficiency in English and in Spanish? - AnnRon, Mar 11, 2016

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Mar 11, 2016

the whole phrase is a noun because "carácter" is a noun and "mal" is just an adjective that describes that noun - fernand2017, Mar 13, 2016

Answer 1

Carácter" is a masculine noun, and "mal is an adjective, but together they are a phrase.

Please see Anns request above. Thankyou. - 00cc0117, Mar 11, 2016

Answer 2

In both sentences "carácter" is a noun and "mal" is an adjective. "Mal" can sometimes be a noun, as in "él pelea el mal," but unless I'm mistaken "carácter" is always a noun.

:-) - 00cc0117, Mar 11, 2016

Answer 3

Now that the noun vs adjective is resolved let's look at your sentences

Juan tiene mal carácter. I believe this is correct.

Juan es (de) mal carácter. I believe with the (de) added this also is correct.

Juan es mal carácter. I believe this is wrong. The first version using tener should be used.

I say this as to me "mal carácter" is a trait, not a description.

For example:

Juan es doctor. okay description

Juan tiene cabello rojo. okay characteristic/trait.

Okay, now that I have staked my ground I await the corrections of Daniela, tuxtaboy, pablo and the other native speakers.

Nice answer - you´re right about everything. The first is the most common - 005faa61, Mar 12, 2016

Thanks Julian. - gringojrf, Mar 12, 2016