pas mal
Pas mal literally means 'not bad', and it's the French default reply to almost any question — how was the film, the weekend, your day? Pas mal. But it has a second life meaning 'quite a lot': 'pas mal de travail' is a fair amount of work. Two meanings, both everywhere.
Where you'll hear it
Pierre
Est-ce que tu parles d'autres langues, Charlotte ?
Do you speak any other languages, C?
Charlotte
Oui, Pierre, je parle anglais et espagnol. J'ai appris l'anglais à l'école et l'espagnol lors d'un séjour en Espagne. Et toi ?
Yes, P, I speak English and Spanish. I learnt English at school and Spanish during a stay in Spain. What about you?
Pierre
Moi, je parle un peu allemand et italien. Mon allemand est plutôt scolaire, mais je me débrouille pas mal en italien grâce à mes origines familiales.
I speak a little German and Italian. My German is more academic, but I can manage quite well in Italian because of my family background.
Charlotte
C'est super de connaître plusieurs langues ! Est-ce que tu as déjà essayé d'apprendre une langue moins courante, comme le russe ou le chinois ?
It's great to know several languages! Have you ever tried to learn a less common language, like Russian or Chinese?
How it shows up
— C'était comment, le concert ? — Pas mal !
— How was the concert? — Not bad!
Il y avait pas mal de monde au marché.
There were quite a lot of people at the market.
Elle se débrouille pas mal en cuisine.
She manages pretty well in the kitchen.
Related expressions
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