Understanding the French Expression Pas Mal

Understanding the French Expression Pas Mal The French expression pas mal (pronounced pah-mahl) is a handy phrase to know because you can use it in a variety of ways in casual conversation. Literally translated, it means not bad in English and can be used to respond to common questions such as  Ãƒ §a va? or  comment allez-vous? But pas mal  can also be used as an exclamation of approval, along the lines of nice job, way to go!   Theres also another, completely different way to use pas mal: in reference to a fair amount/number or quite a bit of something. It can be used with nouns, in which case it must be followed by de, as well as with verbs. Note that there is no  ne to go with the pas and that de follows the rules of other adverbs of quantity, meaning that even in front of plural nouns its usually de not des.   Examples Tu las fait en dix minutes? Pas mal! You did it in 10 minutes? Not bad / Way to go!Il gagne pas mal dargent. He earns quite a bit of money.Jai pas mal de questions. I have quite a few / a fair number of questions.Nous avons discutà © pas mal didà ©es. We discussed quite a few ideas.Elle a pas mal voyagà ©. She has traveled quite a bit.Vous allez voir pas mal l-bas. Youre going to see quite a bit over there.