El perro no es malo.

The dog is not bad.

Breakdown of El perro no es malo.

• el perro: the dog
• ser: to be
• malo: bad

Questions & Answers about El perro no es malo.

Why is it El perro and not La perro?

In Spanish, all nouns have grammatical gender. Perro, meaning dog, is masculine, so it needs the masculine article el. If it were a female dog, you’d say la perra.

Why do we say es malo instead of está malo?

Using es (from the verb ser) indicates a permanent or inherent characteristic, in this case describing the dog’s nature. Está (from the verb estar) is generally used for temporary states or conditions, so está malo could be interpreted as “(The dog) is in a bad condition,” like being sick. But here, es malo is focusing on the inherent quality of bad.

Why do we place no before es?

In Spanish, basic negation simply places no in front of the conjugated verb. In this sentence, the verb is es, so no es is the correct way to form the negative “it is not.”

Are there variations of malo?

Yes. Malo is the masculine singular form. If you are describing a feminine noun, you use mala. In the plural, they become malos (masculine/mixed group) or malas (feminine). There is also a short form mal used in certain positions before masculine singular nouns (e.g., un mal día).

Why is there no indefinite article in El perro no es malo?

Because we’re talking about a specific dog (el perro), the definite article is used. If you wanted to be more general and say something like “A dog is not bad by nature,” you might use Un perro no es malo. But in this context, we’re referring to one specific dog using el.