Soy mal o estoy mal

[Bobina de cabeza]

Saludos y buenas tardes. Soy nuevo en el idioma español.

I hope someone can set me straight. I was goofing off with the Google translator and got confused.

Google translator tells me:
Soy mal = I am wrong
Estoy mal = I am evil

That doesn't jive with my understanding of the difference between Ser and Estar. I read the Ser vs Estar thread and I think that google has it backwards. Being wrong seems like a changeable characteristic whereas being evil seems like a definitive characteristic.

[CrOtALiTo]

Hello, I bid you welcome.

But I can recommending you that you create one introduce for yourself in other forum.

[Rusty]

Google translator tells me:
Soy mal = I am wrong
Estoy mal = I am evilYou're right. The translator has it wrong. Avoid the machine translators!

Soy mal = I am bad (characteristic) = I'm evil
Estoy mal = I'm not feeling well = I'm wrong


Welcome to the forums!

[Bobina de cabeza]

Thanks Rusty and CrOtALiTo for the kind welcomes.

Rusty: Thanks for confirming that Google had it wrong. I will indeed avoid those machine translators.... except for jokes. Nothing better than a badly translated joke.

[Rusty]

No problem.

I appreciate jokes with good translations, actually. Always remember that some jokes are only a play on words. Those seldom translate well across languages.

[sosia]

Soy malo = I am bad (characteristic) = I'm evil
Estoy mal/malo= I'm not feeling well = I'm wrong

Saludos :D

[irmamar]

Soy malo = I am bad (characteristic) = I'm evil
Estoy mal/malo= I'm not feeling well = I'm wrong

Saludos :D

I'm not sure, but I think that "wrong" means "equivocado" :confused:

I'm not feeling well = I'm ill / badly= estoy mal (malo is more colloquial), me encuentro mal (now)
I'm bad = soy malo (always)

[CrOtALiTo]

Estoy mal.

I'm bad.

Yo mismo estoy mal.

I'm bad myself.

Me siento mal.

I don't feeling fine.

I hope to be well with theses examples about it.

[irmamar]

Estoy mal.

I'm bad.

Yo mismo estoy mal.

I'm bad myself.

Me siento mal.

I don't feeling fine.

I hope to be well with theses examples about it.

"Am I bad" or "am I badly"? This word makes me always feel confused. I think this is badly,but I'm not sure.

[CrOtALiTo]

"Am I bad" or "am I badly"? This word makes me always feel confused. I think this is badly,but I'm not sure.

I think the same to you.

I'm badly.

Estoy mal.


I believe that in the school I was badly with the test, therefore I believe that I won't get A in my test...:thinking:

[Fazor]

I believe that in the school I was badly with the test, therefore I believe that I won't get A in my test...:thinking:


I would say that like this; "I believe that in school, I did (or performed) bad* on my test, therefore I believe that I won't get an A (on it).

*instead of bad, I'd probably use "poorly", though either work. "badly" does not work, but I can't really explain why. At least, to me "badly" sounds wrong in that situation.

[irmamar]

I would say that like this; "I believe that in school, I did (or performed) bad* on my test, therefore I believe that I won't get an A (on it).

*instead of bad, I'd probably use "poorly", though either work. "badly" does not work, but I can't really explain why. At least, to me "badly" sounds wrong in that situation.

And when you are not feeling well, you feel badly, don't you?

I'm feeling well/badly
I'm a good/bad person

Is it correct?

[Fazor]

And when you are not feeling well, you feel badly, don't you?

I'm feeling well/badly
I'm a good/bad person

Is it correct?

To be honest, I don't use "badly" that much.

The more I think about it, I think "badly" should be used in Crotalito's example, and is also correct in yours. But I tend to use "I don't feel well" (the negative structure, rather than use the word badly).

It very well could just be me. For one, I'm not a grammar expert. And secondly, I have a lot of quirks with words that sound weird to me / don't fit my pattern of speech.

[chileno]

I'm not sure, but I think that "wrong" means "equivocado" :confused:

I'm not feeling well = I'm ill / badly= estoy mal (malo is more colloquial), me encuentro mal (now)
I'm bad = soy malo (always)

Para de traducir del ingles al español por un momento.

Dime como se puede usar en españa lo que se esta tratando de decir...

Dimelo en español perfecto y depues coloquialmente hablando. :)

[Ambarina]

I would say that like this; "I believe that in school, I did (or performed) bad* on my test, therefore I believe that I won't get an A (on it).

*instead of bad, I'd probably use "poorly", though either work. "badly" does not work, but I can't really explain why. At least, to me "badly" sounds wrong in that situation.

Bad=adjective Badly=adverb
I did bad on my test is colloquial, not correct English. It should be "I did badly on my test" like "I did poorly on my test".:)

[Fazor]

Bad=adjective Badly=adverb
I did bad on my test is colloquial, not correct English. It should be "I did badly on my test" like "I did poorly on my test".:)

Yeah, that's why I corrected myself in the follow-up post. :) But grammar-be-damned! It still sounds wrong to me.

[Ambarina]

Yeah, that's why I corrected myself in the follow-up post. :) But grammar-be-damned! It still sounds wrong to me.

Oops! Sorry, didn't read it properly.:o

[bobjenkins]

Saludos y buenas tardes. Soy nuevo en el idioma español.

I hope someone can set me straight. I was goofing off with the Google translator and got confused.

Google translator tells me:
Soy mal = I am wrong
Estoy mal = I am evil

That doesn't jive with my understanding of the difference between Ser and Estar. I read the Ser vs Estar thread and I think that google has it backwards. Being wrong seems like a changeable characteristic whereas being evil seems like a definitive characteristic.

Yeah the translator seems to get alot of things wrong, I would avoid using it unless you have a dictionary to translate single words.

Ser, is used to describe permanent states, such as

Yo soy Inglés - I am english

While Estar is used to convey states that change ( states of mood, ect.)

Estoy feliz - I am happy

Compare these
Estoy enfermo - I am sick (at this moment) - can change
Soy enfermo - I am (a) sickly (person) - doesn't change

Estoy feliz - I am happy (at this moment) - can change
Soy feliz - I am (a) happy (kind of person) - doesn't change

I've seen it described alot of ways in different books, but I believe that the permanent/non-permanent states way really helps me understand it, hope that helps

[Rusty]

I feel bad is correct, but the sentence doesn't contain an adverb. It contains an adjective; a predicate adjective to be exact (see subjective complement for more information). The linking verb is feel.
I feel badly is also correct, but using the adverb makes the meaning quite different. When you use the adverb, you're saying that there's something wrong with your sense of touch.
If you smell badly, there's something wrong with your nose. If you smell bad, you need to take a bath.