Pas mal

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Essential French Expression

Meaning	not bad, nice job; quite a bit
Literally	not bad
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[pah mahl]
IPA		[pa mal]

Usage notes: The French expression pas mal means "not bad" in response to "how are you?"

Par exemple…

– Salut Angélique ! Ça va ? – Pas mal.		– Hi Angélique! How’s it going? – Not bad.
– Bonjour Michel. Comment vas-tu ? – Pas mal, et toi?		– Hello Michel, how are you? – Not bad, you?

Pas mal can also be an understatement, to mean "good job!" or "way to go!"

Par exemple…

– J’ai eu 19/20 en espagnol au bac. – Pas mal !		– I got 19/20 in Spanish on the baccalauréat. – Nice job!
Tu as déjà fini ? Pas mal !		You’re done already? Way to go!

Pas mal (with verbs) and pas mal de (with nouns) are adverbs of quantity meaning "quite a bit" or "a fair amount."

Par exemple…

Elle travaille pas mal le week-end.		She works quite a bit on the weekend.
On peut épargner pas mal avec un peu d’effort.		You can save a fair amount of money with a little effort.
Je fais pas mal de cuisine.		I cook quite a bit, I do a fair amount of cooking.
Nous avons acheté pas mal de livres.		We bought quite a few books.

 Related lessons

• How are you?
• Adverbs of quantity
• Negative adverbs
• Pas without ne
• Expressions with mal

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