Mauvais vs. Mal

Understand these confusing french pairs

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Updated on February 28, 2020

Mauvais and mal are often confused because they both have negative meanings and can be adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. See the summary table at the bottom.

Adjectives

Mauvais is usually an adjective that modifies a noun and means bad, mean, wrong, etc. Mal means bad, ill-at-ease, immoral, etc., and can only be used as an adjective with copular (state-of-being) verbs such as être (to be) and se sentir (to feel).

Il a de mauvais yeux.	He has bad eyes (can't see).	C'est mal de dire ça.	It's bad (wrong) to say that.
C'est une mauvaise excuse.	That's a bad/poor excuse.	Il est mal à l'école.	He is (feels) uncomfortable at school.
Il est mauvais acteur.	He's a bad actor.	Je suis mal avec eux.	I'm on bad terms with them.
un mauvais numéro	wrong number	Il va mal ce soir.	He is very ill tonight.
une mauvaise personne	bad/malicious person

Adverbs of Manner

Mal is usually an adverb meaning poorly, badly, improperly, etc. It can also be used in front of a past participle in order to give that verb a negative meaning. Mauvais, in the rare instances where it is used as an adverb (see adverbial adjectives), means bad.

J'ai mal dormi.	I slept poorly.
Il parle mal le français.	He speaks French poorly.
La porte ferme mal.	The door doesn't close properly.
Ce travail est mal fait.	This work is badly done.
Il y a pas mal de gens.	There are quite a few people.
Cela sent mauvais.	That smells bad
Il fait mauvais.	The weather is bad.

Nouns

Le mauvais means bad/negative part or bad in the general sense of evil, while le mal (plural maux) refers to a difficulty, evil, or (with the verb avoir) pain.

Je n'ai pas mangé le mauvais.	I didn't eat the bad part.	J'ai du mal à le voir.	I'm having trouble seeing it.
Il ne parle que du mauvais.	He only talks about the bad side.	J'ai mal à la tête. J'ai un mal de tête.	I have a headache.
les mauvais	the wicked	J'ai des maux de tête.	I get headaches.
le Mauvais	the Devil	le mal du pays	homesickness
		les maux de société	societal ills

Summarization

	Mauvais	Mal
adjective	bad (with noun)	bad (with copular verb)
adverb	bad	badly
noun	bad part	evil(s)