bad versus badly
Quisiera saber si puedo decir "I am bad" o "I feel bad" para expresar el hecho de que estoy mal (no porque esté enferma).
Diccionario: To be o feel ill (no es la expresión que buscaba).
Diccionario: I am not well (tampoco buscaba esta expresión).
En realidad, necesito saber cómo decir: "Estoy mal", pero utilizando "bad" o "badly" y si realmente se puede expresar así. Creo que me lío un poco con estas dos expresiones. Así que si alguien sabe cómo decir esta frase, y de paso, poder aclararme la diferencia entre las dos expresiones me gustaría que me contestara, por favor.
17 Answers
Although badly is a proper word in English, it is not used regularly. I have heard, "I feel badly" (usually with regards to sympathy)and "You hurt me badly" (with regards to emotions, but occasionally physically), but you can use bad in most instances where you would use 'mal'.
Many native speakers use bad when they should have used badly or poorly (I think that poorly is a more educated way of speaking).
Aunque badly es una palabra apropiada en inglés, no se la usa con frecuencia. He escuchado "I feel badly ("Siento mal" normalment con respeto a comprensión) y "You hurt me badly" (con respeto a emociones, pero de vez en cuando refiriendo a daño físico), pero mayormente se puede usar 'bad' cuando uno usaría la palabra mal.
Muchos hablantes nativos usan 'bad' cuando deberían haber usado badly o poorly (yo creo que poorly es una manera más educada de hablar).
Hol anila, siempre interesantes tus preguntas. 
Curiosamente, se dice a pesar de que a lo mejor se podrìa considerar gramáticalmente incorrecto:
I am good = I am well.
sin embargo, I am bad, que yo sepa, no tiene el mismo uso. Solo significa, soy malo, mala persona.
I feel bad = me siento mal por haber hecho algo malo
I feel badly/badly for him = lo siento por él....
De todas formas, yo usaría:
I feel poorly. = No me encuentro bien
No sé si lo de " I feel badly" es siquiera correcto.
Acabo de encontrar esto tan interesante:
Al parecer no hay una opinión unánime al respecto:
that of the 1869 handbook prescribing feel badly and that of the 20th-century schoolbooks prescribing feel bad
"bad" can be an adjective or an adverb but "badly" is only an adverb. I think.
My mistake in expressing things "Bad" can be an adjective or an adverb - "badly" is only an adverb. I think.
Qfreed:
I thought that I understood this previous to the 'explanations'.
I understand the ambiguity or misuses in English between bad and badly, but what about in Spanish?
Qfreed, the question was about "bad" or "badly" in English not in Spanish. And whether you understood it or not is of no relevance because you didn't ask the question. And why did you put explanations in speech marks? If you would like to actually provide an explanation for something instead of making people feel like they have asked a stupid question and then providing a book reference or simply rubbishing the explanations of others we might actually learn something.
Thank you James - my mistake - I am still learning.
How would you say " I am (a) bad (person) '? = "I am bad" "Soy malo" ''
I am bad - Soy mal.
Ian, you can't say "soy mal," as it makes no sense.
Soy malo/a = I'm a bad person
Estoy mal = I'm feeling bad, I'm mistaken, I'm having problems, etc.
Estoy malo/a = I'm feeling ill (also "ando malo")
qfreed
Sometimes I think you are a little too nit-picking. Language is not like maths. It is an art form and to help learners of our language - and not the academics - it is good to "reduce" things somewhat. Of course we can always find exceptions and "other meanings" But was this the point of the original posting'
Bad is an adjective and BadLY is an adverb (that describes a verb)
I am bad - Soy mal. I feel bad - No me siento bien.
Excuse me, but I find that illogical. I know what you are saying and I agree, but I do not think you stated what you are thinking.
Badly is an adverb.
I feed bad. (bad in this situation describes the verb feel and is an adverb, therefore, according to your own postulate it would be I feel badly (no matter how you choose to translate it.)
Also, your example Soy mal. is confusing because the "mal" can be either interpreted as a predicate nominative(noun) or predicate adjective and I don't now if you are saying that Soy malo(a) is the predicate noun and soy mal is the predicate adjective or if you are trying to say that soy mal means both I am bad (noun) and I am bad (adjective) or perhaps you are trying to make some other point.
qfreed en México, o en gran parte de él, usamos:
Estoy malo(o)= Estoy enfermo(a).
Estoy mal = Estoy equivocado(a).
Incorrecto o no es entendible para nosotros los de habla hispana.Creo.
saludos.
Muchas gracias. I have the feeling that the situation in Spanish is parallel to the one in English. Just as we have ambiguous rules and common usage employs both the gramatically correct and incorrect forms so does Spanish.
Cuba: "Esa mujer está mala".
That woman is unattractive.
Which constrasts diametrically with the English nuance mentioned here where we call some "bad" to mean they are attractive.
Ever wonder how misunderstanding lead to war'
Cuba: "Esa mujer está mala".
That woman is unattractive.
qfreed en México, o en gran parte de él, usamos:
Estoy malo(o)= Estoy enfermo(a).
Estoy mal = Estoy equivocado(a).
Incorrecto o no es entendible para nosotros los de habla hispana.Creo.
saludos.
Bad is an adjective and BadLY is an adverb (that describes a verb)
I am bad - Soy mal. I feel bad - No me siento bien.
I thought that I understood this previous to the "explanations".
I understand the ambiguity or misuses in English between bad and badly, but what about in Spanish?
I saw soy malo(a) used and I understand that context.
I saw Estoy mal used and the different nuances according to context.
Bottom line:
Are we saying that in Spanish that Estoy mala o Estoy malo is incorrect and that it should always be Estoy mal?
(that would be whether it is used an adjective or an adverb if you wish to make it analogous to the English confusion).
