Bad French Phrases
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The French adverb mal literally means “unwell” or “badly” and is found in a variety of idiomatic expressions. Learn how to say homesick, world-weariness, to work hard, and more with this list of expressions with mal.
Proverbs with mal
| Aux grands maux, les grands remèdes. | Big problems require big solutions. | |
| Bien mal acquis ne profite jamais. | Ill-gotten gains seldom prosper. | |
| Les cordonniers sont toujours les plus mal chaussés. | The shoemaker’s children always go barefoot. | |
| Le remède est pire que le mal. | The cure is worse than the disease. |
Expressions with mal
| avoir du mal à faire | to have a hard time doing | ||
| avoir mal à la tête, aux dents | to have a headache, toothache | ||
| avoir un mal de tête, de dents | to have a headache, toothache | ||
| avoir le mal de mer | to be seasick | ||
| avoir le mal du pays | to be homesick | ||
| le bien et le mal | good and evil | ||
| être mal barré | to be off to a bad start | ||
| faire mal à | to harm, do harm to | ||
| ne voir aucun mal à quelque chose | to not see any harm in something | ||
| non sans mal | not without difficulty | ||
| On n’a rien sans mal | You can’t get something for nothing | ||
| rendre le bien pour le mal | to return good for evil | ||
| se donner du mal | to work hard | ||
| se donne un mal de chien à faire | to bend over backwards to do | ||
se faire mal Je me suis fait mal à la main. |
to hurt oneself I hurt my hand. |
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| tant bien que mal | doing one’s best, more or less | ||
| tomber au plus mal | to come/happen at the worst moment | ||
| bon gré mal gré | (whether you) like it or not | ||
| C’est mal fait ! | What a pity! | ||
| c’est mal vu | people don’t like that | ||
| de mal en pis | from bad to worse | ||
| être bien mal | to be close to death | ||
| être mal avec | to be on bad terms with | ||
| être mal dans sa peau | to feel bad about oneself | ||
| Honi soit qui mal y pense | Shame on anyone who thinks this evil, This person has hidden bad intentions |
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| mal à l’aise | uncomfortable | ||
| mal du siècle | world-weariness | ||
| mal choisi | poorly chosen, ill-chosen | ||
| mal en point | in a bad way, in a sorry state | ||
| mal fait | poorly done | ||
| mal inspiré | ill-advised | ||
| mal nourri | poorly fed | ||
| ni bien ni mal | (informal) | so so | |
| pas mal | not bad, pretty good | ||
| pas mal (de) | quite a bit (of), quite a few | ||
| plus de peur que de mal | shaken but unhurt | ||
| prendre la chose mal | to take it badly | ||
| se sentir mal dans sa peau | to feel bad about oneself | ||
| s’y prendre mal | to do a bad job, handle something poorly | ||
| tout va mal | everything is going wrong | ||
| Tu n’es pas mal sur cette photo. | You look pretty good in this picture. | ||
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