Portuguese Mau Vs. Mal
The difference between the words ‘mau’ and ‘mal’ has always confused people, even Brazilians! The two words are pronounced identically, it’s when they are written that one needs to be careful. In general, “mau” means “bad” and “mal” means “badly.”
Examples:
O lobo mau está de mau humor. – The bad wolf is in a bad mood.
Ela está dirijindo mal porque está se sentindo mal. - She is driving badly because she’s feeling badly/poorly.
Portuguese Expressions With ‘Mau’
de mau gosto - of bad taste
de mau humor - ill tempered
estar em mau estado - to be in a poor condition.
estar em maus lençóis - to be in a bad way
mau caráter - bad character
mau cheiro - bad smell
mau motorista - bad driver
mau negócio - bad bargain
mau pagador - bad payer
maus modos - bad manners
mau tempo - bad weather
mau trato - mistreatment
ser mau - to be bad, evil
ter mau coração - to be coldhearted
Portuguese Expressions With ‘Mal’
falar mal de alguém - to speak evil of somebody
fazer mal - to do harm
fazer por mal - to do it out of spite.
há males que vêm para bem - there are bad things that come for the good
ir mal - to go badly or wrong
levar alguma coisa a mal - to be offended at something
mal-educado - ill-mannered; rude
não faz mal - it doesn’t do harm
por bem ou por mal - for better or for worse
estar de mal com alguém - to fall out with someone
Portuguese Slang
UPDATE:
Here are some more expressions:
mau-hálito – bad breath (Flávia está com mau-hálito)
mau vestida – badly dressed (Lara esta mau vestida)
mau dotado – this one means “badly endowed” and is commonly used as slang (think in English – when someone says a man is “well endowed” (in Portuguese “bem dotado”) what are they insinusting?. So “mau dotado” is the opposite)
mau-caráter – This is slang. It means a person who is shady, a bad person. (Ela se deixou enganar por um mau-caráter.)
mal inclinado – this is a good one. it means a person who is inclined to do bad things or tends to do shady things when they have the opportunity to. (Eu falei que ele era mal inclinado. Na primeira oportunidade virou bandido.)
mal-amada – this is slang for an envious woman, it also implies that she is someone usually in a bad mood and easily irritated. (Acho que a sua irmã não passa de uma mal-amada. Esse gênio ruim dela é falta de rôla.)
má-fé – This isn’t really slang. it means to do something “in bad faith”. (O vendedor queria, com esta conversa mole, deixar os clientes confusos para comprarem o produto mais caro da loja. Ele estava com má-fé.)
mal-criado – misbehaved
About Laurena
we also use "mal-estar" a lot!
Yes! For those of you who don't know this one, when you say "Estou com mal estar" it means that you are feeling sick or uncomfortable from something, like nauseated. You are not feeling well.
I believe mal can also be used as “barely” for example:
Ele mal chegou e já está fazendo amizade. (He just got here and is already making friends)
Ele mal fala português. (He barely speaks Portuguese)
This might, however, be a northeastern thing. Its the only place I’ve visited in Brasil
This is super useful — I didn’t know this difference until now!
Muito obrigada,
Monica