Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Mi profesora se enfada cuando hablamos y nos mira mal desde el fondo de la sala. - My teacher gets angry when we talk and gives us a dirty look from the back of the room.

enfadar (a alguien) = to annoy / to anger (someone else)
- Mi profesora enfada a los alumnos. = My teacher annoys the students.
enfadarse = to get angry (the person themself becomes angry)
- Mi profesora se enfada. = My teacher gets angry.

The se makes it reflexive, meaning the subject experiences the emotion.
So Mi profesora se enfada = My teacher gets angry, not My teacher makes someone angry.

What’s the difference between enfadarse and enojarse?

Both mean “to get angry”, but:

In Spain, enfadarse is very common and completely natural.
Enojarse is more common in much of Latin America.

Examples:

Spain: Mi profesora se enfada cuando hablamos.
Many Latin American countries: Mi profesora se enoja cuando hablamos.

Meaning-wise, they are basically the same; the main difference is regional preference.

Why is it cuando hablamos (indicative) and not cuando hablemos (subjunctive)?

Because the sentence talks about a habitual, repeated action, not a future or hypothetical one.

Cuando + indicative = whenever / every time (something actually happens)
- Mi profesora se enfada cuando hablamos.
  = My teacher gets angry whenever we talk / every time we talk.
Cuando + subjunctive = future or not-yet-real action
- Se enfadará cuando hablemos.
  = She will get angry when we talk (in the future).

Here, the speaker is describing a regular pattern: every time we talk, she gets angry, so the indicative (hablamos) is correct.

Why is it hablamos and not estamos hablando?

Spanish uses the simple present a lot more than English does, especially for:

Habits / repeated actions
General truths

In English, you might naturally say:

She gets angry when we’re talking.

But in Spanish, present simple is standard here:

Se enfada cuando hablamos.
(literally: She gets angry when we talk.)

You can say cuando estamos hablando, but it sounds more like focusing on the exact moment in progress. For the idea of “whenever we talk,” cuando hablamos is better and more idiomatic.

In nos mira mal, what does mal really mean? Is it “badly”?

Literally, mal is “badly / poorly,” but in this context it means:

to look at us in a bad/hostile way
in natural English: “she gives us a dirty look” or “she glares at us”.

So:

nos mira mal ≈ she looks at us in a disapproving way, not she sees us badly (because of bad eyesight).

mal here is an adverb modifying mira (“looks”), describing how she looks at you.

What exactly is nos doing in nos mira mal?

Nos is a direct object pronoun meaning “us”.

Verb: mirar (a alguien) = to look at (someone)
Mira a los alumnos. = She looks at the students.
Nos mira. = She looks at us.

So:

nos mira mal = she looks at us badly / she gives us a dirty look.

You could also say mira mal a nosotros, but using nos is the normal, natural way.

Could you say mira mal desde el fondo de la sala without nos?

Yes, but it slightly changes what is clear from context.

Mira mal desde el fondo de la sala.
= She looks badly from the back of the room (at whom? Not stated explicitly.)
Nos mira mal desde el fondo de la sala.
= She gives us dirty looks from the back of the room.

Spanish usually uses object pronouns when it’s clear who is affected, so nos is very natural and makes it clear it’s you (plural) she’s looking at.

What’s the role of desde in desde el fondo de la sala? Why not just del fondo de la sala?

Desde means “from (starting point in space or time)”.

desde el fondo de la sala = from the back of the room
(that’s where she is when she looks at you)

You could say:

…nos mira mal del fondo de la sala,

but desde el fondo is much more idiomatic here, because:

de often just expresses possession or origin (el fondo de la sala = the back of the room).
desde emphasizes the place from which the action is done: she is located at the back and looks from there.

So desde el fondo de la sala is the natural choice.

Why fondo de la sala and not something like parte de atrás de la clase?

They are similar in meaning, but:

el fondo de la sala is a very common way to say “the back of the room”.
- al fondo = “in the back” (of a room, corridor, etc.).
la parte de atrás de la clase is understandable, but:
- parte de atrás literally = the “rear part”
- clase can mean lesson, class (group of students), or classroom depending on context.

In Spain, for a neutral sentence like this, el fondo de la sala is short, clear, and natural.

Why is it sala and not clase or aula?

All three can appear in school contexts, but they’re not used exactly the same:

sala = “room” in general. Context tells you it’s the classroom.
aula = more specifically “classroom” (often used in schools/universities).
clase = can mean:
- the lesson (Tengo clase a las nueve.),
- the group of students,
- or the classroom in some contexts.

You could say:

Mi profesora se enfada cuando hablamos y nos mira mal desde el fondo del aula.
(also correct and common)

Here, sala just presents it as a generic room; aula would make it explicitly a classroom. Both are fine.

Why mi profesora instead of la profesora?

Both are grammatically correct, but there’s a nuance:

mi profesora = my teacher (the one who teaches me/us).
la profesora = the teacher (more general; the one everyone knows or was just mentioned).

Spanish often uses definite articles for roles (la profesora, el médico, etc.), but when you want to emphasize it’s your teacher, the possessive mi is normal and natural here.

So:

Mi profesora se enfada… = specifically the teacher of the speaker (and classmates).

Can the word order change, like Mi profesora se enfada cuando hablamos y desde el fondo de la sala nos mira mal?

Yes. Spanish allows quite flexible word order, especially with:

adverbs (mal, desde el fondo de la sala)
object pronouns (nos)

All of these are correct and natural:

…y nos mira mal desde el fondo de la sala.
…y desde el fondo de la sala nos mira mal.
…y nos mira desde el fondo de la sala mal. (less usual, but possible in speech for emphasis)

The original nos mira mal desde el fondo de la sala is probably the most neutral. Moving desde el fondo de la sala earlier can slightly highlight her position more, but the core meaning doesn’t change.