LingoflyJudging an act: estar bé/malament + infinitive
An act is judged without naming anyone. estar bé plus the verb is "it is good to do it"; estar malament is "it is bad". For example: “Està malament parlar així de la gent” — It is bad to speak so of people. A rule from the Catalan course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
An act is judged without naming anyone. estar bé plus the verb is "it is good to do it"; estar malament is "it is bad".
Està malament parlar així — it is bad to speak that way. No està bé fer trampes — cheating is not right.
The judgement is about the deed, not about the person.
The negation sits with estar: No està malament preguntar — asking is nothing to be ashamed of. The verb after it always keeps its plain form.
Table
| formula | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| estar bé + inf | good/all right | Està bé preguntar |
| estar malament + inf | bad | Està malament riure d'això |
| no estar bé + inf | not right | No està bé fer trampes |
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Judging an act: how does it work in Catalan?
An act is judged without naming anyone. estar bé plus the verb is "it is good to do it"; estar malament is "it is bad".
What does it look like in a Catalan example sentence?
“Està malament parlar així de la gent” — It is bad to speak so of people. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.