What does pas mal mean in French? This little expression packs a whole lot of meaning in a tiny package, with plenty of nuances depending on how it’s used.

It might seem easy to just think of not bad as a quick pas mal translation in English, but it’s important to understand the many subtleties of this ubiquitous expression. We also have a few other expressions that might resemble pas mal but are actually completely different, like pas mal de and ça peut pas faire de mal. Let’s explore each and every one!

Today we’re diving deep into all the possible uses of pas mal in French, examining their meanings in each context. We’ll see variants like ce n’est pas mal, c’est pas trop mal, and c’est pas si mal, for example, explaining when it’s best to use each of them.

Pas mal

The main form of the expression we’re looking at today is pas mal. It’s used to express an opinion about something, whether as a response or as an exclamation. We’ll get into versions with additional words, but the fundamental point linking all of them is that pas mal is neither overly enthusiastic nor overly negative.

The literal translation of pas mal in English is essentially not bad. The two expressions are fairly similar, in that they’re mildly positive but can take different nuances depending on the context. Let’s see the nuances of the French pas mal!

Note that, grammatically, pas mal never changes form. Whether we use it to refer to something masculine or feminine, singular or plural, we always just say pas mal.

Pas mal: Very positive, but modest

Rather than call something out as being excellent or awesome or super, we can tone down our enthusiasm by saying that it’s pas mal in French. This remains a very positive comment, but our use of pas mal gives our statement a bit more modesty than outright bragging. It’s common to use this when talking about oneself.

English translations of pas mal here can include expressions like not bad, not too shabby, or even informal comments like it doesn’t suck. What’s more important are peripheral details like our tone of voice and our facial expressions, since we’re using the relatively neutral expression pas mal to express that something is actually really great.

• Ton triple salto arrière était pas mal ! – Your triple backflip was not bad at all!
• Après dix ans à travailler dans un resto étoilé, je suis pas mal dans la cuisine. – After ten years working in a Michelin-starred restaurant, I’m not bad in the kitchen.

Pas mal: Neutral but positive

Perhaps the most common use of pas mal is to express a somewhat positive opinion about something, without overt enthusiasm. Sure, whatever we’re describing is ok and all, but not more than that. It’s good enough, but we have some reservations.

These translations of pas mal in English include decent, ok, alright, or good enough.

• Son dernier album est pas mal, mais je préfère le précédent. – Her latest album is alright, but I prefer her previous one.
• Leur nouvelle voiture est pas mal, mais elle consomme un peu trop. – Their new car is pretty good, but it consumes a bit too much gas.

Pas mal: Neutral

It’s just as common to use pas mal to just deflect the question and avoid giving much of an opinion at all. Here, pas mal suggests moderate indifference, or just a lack of opinion one way or another.

• Le kebab est pas mal, et c’est le seul qui est ouvert à cette heure. On y va. – The kebab restaurant is just fine, and it’s the only one that’s open at this hour. Let’s go.
• L’aéroport de Tarbes est pas mal, et c’est beaucoup plus proche que celui de Bordeaux. – The Tarbes airport is alright, and it’s way closer than the one in Bordeaux.

Pas mal, et toi: “Fine, and you”

Just like the use we saw above, pas mal can be used as a neutral response when someone asks you how you’re doing in French. It’s like responding fine in English, where you answer without actually providing any information.

On the other hand, since pas mal in French can have so many nuances, the other person may dig deeper if they suspect you’re using it negatively. A truly neutral response to comment ça va in French is to just answer with ça va.

• Comment ça va ? / Pas mal, et toi ? – How are you? / Fine, and you?
• Comment était ta journée ? / Pas mal. / Ah oui, qu’est-ce qui t’est arrivé ? – How was your day? / Fine. / Oh yeah? What happened?

Pas mal: Neutral but negative

Going down the spectrum of enthusiasm, we can also use pas mal to just offer some modicum of approval for something while not overtly criticizing it. The nuance here is that there’s a tinge of negativity to our comment, but we still admit that it’s passable.

English translations of pas mal for this use include meuh, whatever, not so bad, not necessarily bad, or acceptable.

• Sa performance était pas mal, même si elle manquait un peu d’énergie. – Her performance wasn’t that bad, even though she lacked a bit of energy.
• L’hôtel était pas mal, mais le service n’était pas à la hauteur. – The hotel wasn’t all that bad, but the service really wasn’t up to snuff.

Pas mal: Very critical, but with positive irony

Since the literal translation of pas mal is not bad, sometimes we use it ironically when something is indeed quite bad. Using pas mal this way is a light way to give a critique of something without saying so explicitly.

In English, you have expressions you use with similar irony, like great!, good job!, or bravo!.

• Ah, tu as fini par arriver ! Pas mal, seulement une heure de retard. – Ah, you’ve finally arrived! Bravo, only one hour late.
• Votre interprétation karaoké de cette chanson était pas mal, à condition que seul votre enthousiasme compte. – Your karaoke rendition of that song was just great, as long as it’s just your enthusiasm that counts.

C’est pas mal

So far we’ve just looked at the two-word expression pas mal, getting to know its different nuances across many contexts. Pas mal can be used in sentences with diverse subjects, where the subject is described as being not bad.

If we want to replace the subject with a neutral word in French, like saying it’s in English, we just start the statement with c’est. In this way, c’est pas mal is frequently used on its own to refer back to whatever was mentioned previously.

We’ll look at a few formulations of c’est pas mal in these next sections, since adding specific words can really change the underlying nuance of the statement.

C’est pas mal: More positive than neutral

We’ve looked at pas mal on its own throughout the last section, and it really covered a spectrum of meanings from positive to negative. When we use the longer expression c’est pas mal, however, it’s really on the positive side of the spectrum that we saw in the first couple of meanings. In general, c’est pas mal is used similarly to the second pas mal meaning we saw above: to describe something that’s more positive than neutral, but not necessarily fabulous.

• C’est comment ton burger ? / C’est pas mal. Je reviendrai ici si je passe devant. – How’s your burger? / It’s pretty good. I’ll come back here if I’m passing by.
• As-tu regardé la nouvelle série sur Netflix ? / Oui, c’est pas mal. Je te la conseille. – Did you watch the new series on Netflix? / Yeah, it’s not bad. I recommend it.

Ce n’est pas mal: The proper version of C’est pas mal

If you’re familiar with how to use ne…pas in French, you may have noticed that c’est pas mal is missing the negation word ne. This is because we use this expression informally in spoken French, where native speakers often omit the ne. In fact, we should say ce n’est pas mal to be grammatically correct.

In theory, there’s no difference in meaning between c’est pas mal vs ce n’est pas mal. On the other hand, ce n’est pas mal is just more proper since it utilizes the correct grammatical structure, so it’s used in more formal contexts. It still indicates a relatively positive stance on something. Keep in mind that this “correct” version is very rarely used: you’ll almost only ever hear c’est pas mal.

• L’hôtel nous a donné deux chambres familiales. Ce n’est pas mal. – The hotel gave us two family suites. That’s not bad.
• Ce n’est pas mal pour un débutant. Tu as fait du bon travail. – This isn’t too bad for a beginner. You’ve done a good job.

C’est pas trop mal: A bit less enthusiastic than C’est pas mal

Adding trop to our expression actually tempers it a bit. Whereas c’est pas mal is fairly positive while not being overly enthusiastic, c’est pas trop mal lessens our level of enthusiasm. It’s still a positive comment, but with some hesitation. It’s a polite way to say something is good enough without getting into any real critique.

The best translation of trop is too, so a literal interpretation of this could be it’s not too bad. But it could be better. It’s like adding a lot to I love you in French: je t’aime beacoup just means I like you! C’est pas trop mal in English can also take translations like it’s alright, it’s ok, or it’s good enough.

• Ton nouveau travail, ça te plaît ? / C’est pas trop mal, l’équipe est sympa. – Do you like your new job? / It’s not too bad, my colleagues are nice.
• Qu’est-ce que tu penses de la nouvelle serie? / C’est pas trop mal. Je crois que je vais la finir. – What do you think of the new series? / It’s good enough. I think I’ll finish it.

Like we saw with the neutral use of pas mal as a response to comment ça va, we can also say respond with pas trop mal. In this sense, the sentiment conveyed by pas trop mal may cover a wider spectrum both above and below the neutral.

• Comment s’est passé ton premier trimestre à l’université ? / Pas trop mal. Les cours étaient durs, mais j’ai fait beaucoup de nouveaux amis. – How was your first term at university? / Not too bad. The classes were tough, but I made a lot of new friends.

C’est pas si mal: Positive, and pleasantly surprised about it

On a much more positive side than c’est pas trop mal, we have c’est pas si mal. This translates literally as it’s not so bad, and is used similarly to how you might use this expression in English.

C’est pas si mal is quite a positive statement, implying that the speaker finds something to be better than they had expected. This expression comes with the nuance of being pleasantly surprised. The grammatically-correct version, ce n’est pas si mal, is just as common.

• Le train arrive avec dix minutes de retard, mais c’est pas si mal. La dernière fois c’était une heure en retard. – The train is arriving with a ten-minute delay, but it’s not so bad. Last time it was an hour late.
• Il va pleuvoir ce week-end, mais c’est pas si mal. On en a besoin ! – It’s going to rain this weekend, but it’s not so bad. We need it!

Pas mal as an intensifier

So far we’ve seen pas mal used as an exclamation, where it’s used rather literally to express an opinion about something being not bad.

Now we’ll look at how pas mal can be used more as an adverb or adjective, expressing added intensity to some other element in a statement. Used before adjectives, pas mal can take translations such as quite, really, very, or rather. Used with nouns, pas mal de denotes lots of or a large number of. Let’s take a look at each of these.

Pas mal as an adverb: Quite, rather, pretty

We use pas mal as an intensifier before descriptions, suggesting even more of whatever description we started with. This is an informal use of pas mal that’s very common in spoken French.

• Les hôtels à Paris sont pas mal chers. – Hotels in Paris are rather expensive.
• Le bus est déjà pas mal plein. On attend le prochain ? – The bus is already quite full. Shall we wait for the next one?

In addition to adding intensity, this use of pas mal in French also serves to add a bit of vagueness to whatever we’re describing.

• Notre fils joue pas mal bien au foot. – Our son plays soccer pretty well.
• Nous sommes pas mal en retard. – We’re pretty late.

Pas mal de: Lots of

Another way we use pas mal as an intensifier is with nouns, by adding de between pas mal and the noun. De translates as of, so pas mal de can take translations such as lots of, a large number of, plenty of, or a bunch of. This informal use of pas mal is very common in Spoken French. In written French, we generally use the synonym beaucoup de instead.

• On a vu pas mal de marmottes sur la randonnée. – We saw a bunch of marmots on the hike.
• Pas mal d’Américains vivent à Paris. – Plenty of Americans live in Paris.

In our first examples we see pas mal de with countable nouns, which need to be in plural form (marmottes, Américains). We can also use pas mal de with uncountable nouns (like butter, sugar, or money), with the same meaning of a large quantity of.

• Il nous faut pas mal de beurre et de sucre pour cette recette. – We need a lot of butter and sugar for this recipe.
• Avoir une voiture coûte pas mal d’argent. – Having a car costs a fair amount of money.

Pas faire mal

Before we go, let’s take a look at a couple of expressions that may appear related to pas mal, but have nothing to do with the definitions we’ve seen so far. The verb faire is best translated as to do. However, when we use faire with mal, we’re actually talking about pain.

Ça fait mal in French is our most common expression for saying it hurts. As a question, we use ça fait mal ? to ask does it hurt?. Just like in English, the pain we’re referring to can be physical or psychological.

With this use of faire mal as getting hurt or feeling pain, let’s see some common expressions where we see pas and mal with faire.

Ne te fais pas mal: Don’t hurt yourself

This is a command, used to tell someone don’t hurt yourself. Mothers commonly tell their kid ne te fais pas mal, while it’s also pertinent between spouses or with older people who seem keen to attempt things that may be beyond their body’s capacity.

This expression is usually stated with the full French negation words ne…pas, unlike most of the other expressions where the ne is often dropped. Still, we sometimes simply say te fais pas mal rather than the full ne te fais pas mal.

• Oui Léo, tu sautes très bien, mais ne te fais pas mal s’il te plaît. – Yes Léo, you jump very well, but please don’t hurt yourself.
• Nos amis vont nous aider à déménager les grands meubles, Papa. Ne te fais pas mal. – Our friends will help us move the big pieces of furniture, Dad. Don’t hurt yourself.

Ça fait pas mal: It doesn’t hurt

As we saw above, ça fait mal is our standard expression to mean it hurts. The negative version of that expression is ça ne fait pas mal or ça fait pas mal, with the straightforward meaning of it doesn’t hurt.

• Il m’a donné un coup sur l’épaule, mais ça fait pas mal, c’est juste pour plaisanter. – He hit me in the shoulder, but it doesn’t hurt, he was just messing around.
• Revoir ces vieilles photos, ça fait pas mal maintenant que j’ai tourné la page sur cette relation. – Seeing these old photos, it doesn’t hurt now that I’ve moved on from that relationship.

Même pas mal !: It doesn’t even hurt!

Même pas mal! is an exclamation of victory, used when we do something that looks like it could have hurt a lot but somehow didn’t. It’s a bit of a sheepish admission that whatever we just did may have been foolish, but it worked out ok after all. There is no other form with ne: we always only say même pas mal !

You just tried to do a cartwheel and landed flat on your back instead? You took a sweet jump on the slope but ended up losing both your skis on the landing? You missed the frisbee and it bounced right off your forehead? If you’re actually fine and want to reassure your friends who are looking on in shock:

• Même pas mal ! – It doesn’t even hurt!
• Ça fait même pas mal ! – It doesn’t even hurt!

Ça fait pas de mal: It wouldn’t hurt

This expression may appear almost identical to the one above, but the added de gives it an entirely different meaning. Whereas ça fait pas mal refers to a lack of actual pain, ça fait pas de mal is more figurative. We use it to suggest that doing something wouldn’t hurt. Both ça fait pas de mal and ça ne fait pas de mal are just as common.

• Prendre un peu de vitamine C, ça fait pas de mal pendant l’hiver. – Taking a bit of vitamin C in the winter wouldn’t hurt.
• Réfléchir un peu plus avant d’agir, ça fait pas de mal parfois. – It wouldn’t hurt to think before acting sometimes.

Ça peut pas faire de mal: It couldn’t hurt

Our last expression is very similar to the previous one, but a bit more theoretical. It couldn’t do any harm is a good translation of ça peut pas faire de mal, or of its grammatically-correct counterpart, ça ne peut pas faire de mal.

The verb pouvoir means to be able to or can, so although we might translate ça ne peut pas faire de mal literally as it can’t hurt, the suggestive nature of the statement should be interpreted more as it couldn’t hurt. We sometimes use the conditional tense for this in French as ça ne pourrait pas faire de mal, but it’s less common than ça peut pas faire de mal.

We use this expression as a gentle encouragement to give something a try. It’s used when there’s pretty much no apparent risk involved. It suggests that doing the action shouldn’t have any negative consequences, even if it may not have any positive consequences either. Ça peut pas faire de mal is just a way to reassure someone that they have nothing to lose from trying.

• Tu devrais venir avec nous au cours de yoga. / Pourquoi pas, ça peut pas faire de mal. – You should come with us to the yoga class. / Why not, it wouldn’t hurt.
• J’essaie de faire quelques leçons de français sur Duolingo à tous les jours. / Bonne idée. Tu ne deviendrais pas expert avec cet appli, mais ça peut pas faire de mal non plus. – I try to do a few French lessons on Duolingo every day. / Good idea. You won’t become an expert with that app, but it can’t do you any harm either.

Conclusion: Pas mal in French

Today we went deep on pas mal in French, looking at all the uses of this common little expression. So what does pas mal mean in French? For the most part, our pas mal meanings can be broken down into two broad categories: as an exclamation to express quality, or as an intensifier to express quantity.

As an exclamation, we saw that pas mal can take many different nuances depending on how it’s used, with an easy English translation of not bad. While it normally carries a positive connotation that’s not far from neutral, in some contexts it’s a strong compliment while in others it’s a veiled insult. We went through several formulations of c’est pas mal, showing what subtleties the various expressions can convey.

As an intensifier, we saw how pas mal and pas mal de can be used to indicate significant quantites. Pas mal + adjective intensifies our description along the lines of rather or quite, while pas mal de + noun suggests a significant amount of that noun.

Finally, we saw a couple of pas mal expressions that have nothing to do with the rest, relating more to feelings of pain with the construction faire mal.

If you got this far in today’s lesson you now know pas mal about how to use this little pair of words. Pas mal! Now you should go ahead and use pas mal whenever you’re speaking in French. Ça peut pas faire de mal!