Breakdown of El paciente se encontraba mal por la anestesia.
mal
poorly / badly / unwell
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
el paciente
the patient
encontrarse
to feel / to be located (to find oneself)
Questions & Answers about El paciente se encontraba mal por la anestesia.
Why does this use se encontraba? Doesn't encontrar mean "to find"?
Yes, encontrar means "to find", but this is a pronominal verb whose meaning changes when you add the reflexive pronoun. Encontrarse means "to feel" (regarding health or mood) or "to be located". Here, se encontraba mal means "he was feeling bad". It is a very common alternative to se sentía or estaba.
Why is the imperfect tense (se encontraba) used here instead of the preterite (se encontró)?
Why do we use por instead of para in this sentence?
Why does the sentence use mal instead of malo?