salir mal
verbCEFR B1
What does “salir mal” mean in English?
to turn out badly, to go wrong
to turn out badly, to go wrong (outcome-focused; me salió mal = it didn't work out for me)
Example sentences
El experimento salió mal porque uno de los reactivos estaba caducado; tuvimos que repetirlo todo desde el principio.
The experiment went wrong because one of the reagents was expired; we had to repeat everything from the start.
Si las cosas salen mal en la primera entrevista, no te desanimes; a veces hay que intentarlo varias veces antes de conseguir el trabajo.
If things go badly in the first interview, don't get discouraged; sometimes you have to try several times before landing the job.
Le salió muy mal la receta porque no leyó bien las instrucciones y puso el doble de sal de la que correspondía.
The recipe turned out very badly for him because he didn't read the instructions properly and put in twice the amount of salt it called for.
How to use it
Salir mal means 'to turn out badly', 'to go wrong', or 'to go badly'. It is the exact counterpart of salir bien, sharing the same outcome-focused structure. The subject is the event, project, recipe, or plan. Common in narratives of failure, mistakes, or disappointing results. Modifier: salir muy mal, salir bastante mal, salir peor de lo esperado. Salir mal can also refer to performance: me salió mal el examen (my exam didn't go well).
Common mistake
The same caution as salir bien: use bien/mal as adverbs, not adjectives. '*Salir malo' is ungrammatical in this idiom. Also: salir mal is outcome-focused — for an ongoing bad process, use ir mal. The expression me salió mal (it didn't work out for me) with the indirect object me adds a personal involvement nuance not present in the simple salió mal.