How to Say "poorly" in Spanish
The Spanish word for “poorly” is “mal” — A1 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.
English → SpanishA1
AdverbA1
describing the quality of an action
Examples
Duermo muy mal por la noche.
I sleep very badly at night.
El examen me salió mal.
The exam went badly for me.
Perdón, entendí mal.
Sorry, I understood wrong.
Describing Actions: `mal` vs. `malo`
mal is used to describe how an action is done (it's an adverb). It answers 'how?'. For example, 'Canto mal' (I sing badly). It never changes its form.
Mixing up `mal` and `malo`
Mistake: “Yo cocino malo.”
Correction: Yo cocino mal. To describe a verb (an action like 'cocinar'), always use 'mal'. 'Malo' is used to describe nouns (things or people).
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