Have you noticed that the Spanish expressions Es bueno and Está bien are often used in very similar contexts in which both are equivalents of "It's good"? The same can be said for Es malo and Está mal, which can both mean "It's bad." As this can be a bit confusing, today's lesson will point out some scenarios in which these phrases can function both similarly and differently.  

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When Es Bueno/Malo and Está Bien/Mal Are Different

One of the most challenging aspects of learning or mastering Spanish is understanding the difference between the verbs ser and estar, which both mean "to be." Put in the simplest of terms:

-Ser tends to be used for more permanent qualities and is accompanied by adjectives, which must agree grammatically with the nouns they modify in terms of number and gender.

 

-Estar describes more variable states like emotions and goes with adverbs, which do not change forms. 

With this in mind, let's take a look at examples of es bueno/malo and está bien/mal, noting the difference in meaning.

Es Bueno/a vs. Está Bien 

Ella es muy buena.

She is very good.

Caption 30, Guillermina y Candelario La Señora Pulpo

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Ya, ya, tranquilos, tranquilos, ella está bien.

It's OK, it's OK, don't worry, don't worry, she's fine.

Caption 15, La Sucursal del Cielo Capítulo 3 - Part 12

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While es buena refers to the girl's character being "good" in a more permanent sense, está bien is employed to express that, at that moment, the character is "fine," as in "safe" or "OK." We also commonly see this use of está bien to convey that a person is "doing" or feeling "fine" at a determined moment, or that a situation is "OK" or "alright":

Está bien, Luis.

It's OK, Luis.

Caption 27, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 8: La prima de la dueña - Part 5

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Es Malo/a vs. Está Mal

En español decimos: "Es que es muy malo".

In Spanish, we say: "Es que es muy malo" [It's just that he's very bad].

Caption 86, Amaya El burrito Luz - Part 2

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Y si ahora vuelvo a hablar del tema es porque su señora madre está mal.

And if now I talk about the issue again it's because your mother is ill.

Caption 37, Muñeca Brava 33 El partido - Part 3

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In these examples, we see es malo used, albeit ironically, to talk about the donkey's general "bad" character, while está mal expresses that the mother is currently "ill." Estar mal is also used frequently to say that people, animals, etc., are doing poorly at a specific point.

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When Es Bueno/Malo and Está Bien/Mal Are Similar

On the other hand, when es bueno/a and está bien are used to talk about certain things or concepts, they can function in a quite interchangeable manner. Let's explore two common scenarios in which this happens. 

Describing Quality

When describing quality, es bueno/a and está bien are often virtually synonymous. As an example, in response to the question ¿Qué tal esa película? (How's that movie?), to indicate that it is "very good," one could reply either Esa película es muy buena or Esa película está muy bien since both mean "That movie is very good." Let's look at some more examples where es bueno/a and está bien could potentially substitute one another. 

Entonces, este mantra es muy bueno

So, this mantra is very good

Caption 69, Ana Teresa Introducción a los mantras

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In this case, Entonces, este mantra está muy bien could be used to express the same idea with no change in translation. 

Pero está muy bien el metro.

But the subway is very good.

Caption 45, Isabel y Paula contigo Transporte público en Madrid - Part 3

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Here, one could also say Pero es muy bueno el metro and mean the same thing. 

Note that, although you could use es malo/a to say that something is "bad," when using está, it would be more common to hear no está bien than está mal, for example, Ese libro no está muy bien (That book isn't very good).

Expressing Judgment

Let's now examine examples where es bueno and está bien could substitute one another for the purpose of expressing judgment about what's good.

"Está mal que Roberto trabaje tanto".

"It's bad that Roberto works so much."

Caption 76, Carlos explica Cómo expresar opiniones en español - Part 4

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Mis padres me dicen que eso es malo

My parents tell me that that is bad

Caption 25, Club de las ideas Seguridad en internet

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Take into account, however, that when what is being described entails a moral judgment about something or a statement about the correctness of information, está bien/mal would be preferable, as we see below, noting the change in translation.

Lo que usted hace está mal.

What you're doing is wrong.

Caption 87, Muñeca Brava 48 - Soluciones - Part 6

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Sin embargo, el artículo "los" es masculino plural, así que no está bien.

However, the article, "los" [the], is masculine plural, so it's incorrect.

Captions 77-78, Carlos explica La concordancia gramatical - Part 1

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Exceptions to the Rules

While we have talked about ser accompanying bueno/a and estar going with bien/mal, and it would be totally incorrect to say es bien or es mal, there are cases in which está bueno/a or está malo/a are commonly used. Let's take a look at some common ones:

When Something Is Tasty

Está bueno.

It's good.

Caption 16, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 12 - Part 1

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When Something Is Nice/Cool

Está buena la casa, ¿eh?

The house is nice, huh?

Caption 26, Disputas La Extraña Dama - Part 10

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When Someone Is Attractive 

Que cante mi gente -Y está buena, pero qué buena está

Sing along, my people -And she is hot, but how hot she is

Caption 35, Héctor Lavoe Mi gente

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When Someone Is Ill 

Juan se queda en casa hoy ya que está malo.

Juan is staying home today since he's sick. 

You probably recall from earlier in the lesson that estar mal is another option for talking about sickness in Spanish, so keep your ears open for both.

On that note, we will conclude this lesson, which we hope has helped you to understand when the extremely common Spanish expressions es bueno/malo and está bien/mal can be used interchangeably and when one option is preferable... and don't forget to write us with your comments and questions. 

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Do you enjoy giving orders? Let's study the imperative mood in Spanish so you can do it correctly and guarantee obedience from your subjects. 

Imperatives are phrases used to tell someone to do something. One easy way to give commands in Spanish is using the verbs mandar and ordenar (to command) with the phrases ordeno que or mando que + a verb in subjunctive (2nd person). For example, ordeno que bailes (I order you to dance), or les mando que vayan a la tienda (I order you guys to go to the store). However, and this is true in English as well, giving commands in such way may be adequate for a king or a general, but not for nice regular folks like us. So how do people normally give commands in Spanish? Usually with a single verb, just like in English. Check out the following quote:

¡Pues vente aquí a la cocina, anda, que no sé lo que estás haciendo!

Come here to the kitchen, come on, I don't know what are you doing!

Caption 31, Club de las ideas - Seguridad en internet

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This example shows two variations of single-word commands in Spanish: the first one, vente (come), includes a suffix pronoun, and the second one, anda (come), doesn't. It’s also correct to say ¡Pues ven aquí a la cocina, andate, que no sé lo que estás haciendo! These suffixes are very common but not always necessary: sometimes they point to the existence of direct and indirect objects, sometimes they indicate you are using a reflexive verb, etc. In many occasions they are simply used to add emphasis, as in the example above. Saying ¡Pues ven aquí a la cocina, anda, que no sé lo que estás haciendo! is perfectly correct.

To learn how to conjugate imperatives is a different story. There are basically three possibilities: Informal tú and vosotros (you singular and plural), formal usted and ustedes (you singular and plural), and nosotros (we) commands. It's also important to make a distinction between regular verbs (like andar, "to go") and irregular verbs (like venir, "to come"). For now, let’s stick to regular verbs. We can revisit the subject in a future lesson to learn the imperative form of some common irregular verbs.

The imperative for the informal tú (singular you) and vosotros (plural you) is the most common and perhaps the more challenging. Let's use the regular verbs amar (to love), temer (to fear), partir (to leave) as models to learn how to build these imperative forms.

For tú (you) we must use the same form of the verb that we use for the third person of the indicative:

(tú) ama, teme, parte - (you) love, fear, leave

To create the imperative for vosotros (plural you) we have to substitute the letter "r" from the infinitive with a "d:"

(vosotros) amad, temed, partid - (you plural) love, fear, leave

in the Americas people use ustedes instead of vosotros, right? Well, to make the imperative for ustedes use the present subjunctive for the same person:

(ustedes) amen, teman, partan - (you plural) love, fear, leave

Let's take a moment to test the rules we mentioned above. Is it true that ama is the imperative of amar for tú and also the third person of the indicative (he, she, it)?

Ama a tu esposa (love your wife) - Imperative tú (you)
Él ama a su esposa (He loves his wife) - Indicative third person (he, she, it)

It's true. Now, that you can transform the infinitive form of amar (to love), temer (to fear), partir (to leave) into the imperative for vosotros by replacing the r for a d is self evident: amad, temed, partid. Here’s an example using the regular verb mirar (to see):

y mirad lo que vamos a hacer ahora.

and look what we are going to do now.

Caption 71, Cómetelo - Crema de brócoli

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Perfect. Now let's see if the imperative for ustedes and the present subjunctive share the same form:

Teman al dios de fuego (Fear the god of fire) - imperative ustedes (you plural).
Yo dudo que ustedes teman al dios de fuego (I doubt that you fear the god of fire) - present subjunctive ustedes (you plural).

It's true as well. Here are more examples of the imperative for tú, vosotros, and ustedes:

Aprende el sentido de las tres erres.

Learn the meaning of the three Rs.

Caption 21, 3R - Campaña de reciclaje

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Escuchad, escuchad, queridos súbditos.

Hear, hear, worthy subjects.

Caption 24, Cuentos de hadas - Cenicienta

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Pregúntenle primero al corazón, hablen primero con Cupido

First ask the heart, speak first with Cupid

Caption 7, Mennores - Enamorarme Quiero

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A final note: it’s also possible to use negative sentences to give orders. For example: Niños, no coman insectos (Kids, don’t eat bugs). As you can see, the negative command for ustedes (you plural) has the same form than the positive command: coman (eat).  But the negative commands for tú (you singular) and vosotros (you plural) use different conjugations. The negative commands for tú and vosotros use instead the present subjunctive: no comas pan (don’t eat bread) and no comáis porquerías (don’t eat junk food). Let’s transform the last examples above into negative sentences:
 
No aprendas el sentido de las tres erres.
Don’t learn the meaning of the three Rs.
 
No escuchéis, no escuchéis, queridos súbditos.
Don’t listen, don’t listen, worthy subjects.
 
No le pregunten primero al corazón, no hablen primero con Cupido.
Don’t ask the heart first, don’t speak first with Cupid.