eres malo
/eɾes malo/from spelling rules
In Spanish, eres malo is the way to say "you're bad".
The phrase is used to tell someone that they are a wicked or immoral person. While eres malo describes a person's character, you can use the more precise eres malvado if you want to emphasize that someone is truly evil or villainous.
Which one should you use?
Use eres malo when speaking to a male and eres mala when speaking to a female. If you want to intensify the meaning to emphasize someone's incompetence or lack of skill, you can use the informal expression Eres pésimo or Eres pésima.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Mexico, the phrase estás de pena can be used to replace eres malo or eres mala to mean "you're awful".
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective must match the gender of the person being spoken to: use malo for males and mala for females.
How do you pronounce it?
/eɾes malo/
Did you know?
- The word eres is a linguistic relic of the Latin future tense 'eris', which meant 'you will be'. It replaced the original Latin word for 'you are' because that word sounded too similar to the word for 'he is'.
- Spanish distinguishes between character and state. Using eres malo describes a permanent personality trait, but switching to estás malo can mean someone is physically ill or that a piece of fruit has gone rotten.
- While eres malo usually means someone is wicked, in many Spanish-speaking cultures it is frequently used as a playful or flirtatious tease. In this context, it functions more like the English 'you're naughty' than a moral judgment.
Examples in context
- A nadie le importa en qué eres malo, y a ti tampoco debería importarte. Aumenta tus fortalezas. Nadie verá el resto.Nobody cares what you're bad at, and neither should you. Amplify your strengths. Nobody will see the rest.This sentence shows how to use eres malo in the context of focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses.Tatoeba #11561765 by DJ_Saidez, translation #11561737 by DJ_Saidez
- Emilio, eres malo en el fútbol.Emilio, you're bad at soccer.
- Sofía, eres pésima en matemáticas.Sofía, you're terrible at math.
- No me hables así, tú eres malo.Don't talk to me like that, you are bad.
- Sé que eres malo por cómo tratas a la gente.I know you're bad because of how you treat people.
Example conversation
Javier and María are arguing about a mean prank.
- JavierMe parece muy cruel lo que hiciste.I think what you did is very cruel.
- MaríaSolo era una broma, Javier.It was just a joke, Javier.
- JavierNo, eres malo por disfrutar eso.No, you're bad for enjoying that.
- MaríaEstás exagerando mucho, María.You are exaggerating a lot, María.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries eres, malo, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
