Comer pan no es malo.

to be

Breakdown of Comer pan no es malo.

• malo: bad
• el pan: the bread
• comer: eating

Questions & Answers about Comer pan no es malo.

Why is comer (to eat) in the infinitive here instead of a conjugated form?

In Spanish, when a verb acts as the subject of a sentence, it is typically left in the infinitive form. So comer pan (eating bread) functions as a noun phrase and is treated as the subject.

Why is there no article before pan?

Spanish often uses no article when talking about things in a general sense, especially with food or items considered uncountable or non-specific. Pan here means bread in general, not a specific piece or type.

Why does the adjective malo appear in its masculine form?

When an adjective follows a verb like ser, it must match in gender and number with the subject. However, the subject in comer pan is an action (infinitive), which is treated as a singular masculine idea. Hence, malo stays in the masculine form.

Could this sentence be said differently, for example No es malo comer pan?

Yes. Spanish allows you to begin with the negation and the verb ser before the subject. Comer pan no es malo and No es malo comer pan convey the same basic meaning with slightly different emphasis.

Is malo being used to describe the action comer pan?

Exactly. malo acts as a predicate adjective describing the act of eating bread, essentially saying that this action is "not bad."

If I wanted to say it’s good to eat bread, how would I change the sentence?

You’d simply replace malo with bueno, resulting in Comer pan es bueno.