Hello Bana, They both mean "bad" but both words could be used in different contexts with different meanings .I will try to show you the differences with examples: Male: - badly in an unsatisfactory way : comportarsi male ( to behave badly) oggi ho giocato male (I played badly today) -in a wrong or incorrect way: pronunciare male una parola (to pronounce a word wrongly.) rispondere male ( to answer wrongly) - in a rude, impolite manner : trattar male qn ( to ill-treat somebody.) - 'male' in the sense of 'evil' il bene e il male (good and evil) il minore dei due mali ( the lesser of two evils) - in the sense of 'harm' che c'è di male? (what is the harm in that?) non farebbe male a una mosca (he wouldn't hurt a fly ) - in the sense of 'hurt, pain ,ache' mi fa male una gamba (my leg hurts) i mali della vecchiaia (the infirmities of old age) avere mal di testa/di stomaco (to have headache/stomachache) Cattivo: - bad ,wicked,naughty un bambino cattivo (a naughty boy) farsi un cattivo nome (to earn a bad reputation) -villain fa sempre la parte del cattivo ( he always plays the villain) - di cattivo gusto ( tasteless) - cattivo odore ( pong 'stench') - fare un cattivo uso di qualcosa (misuse something) -di cattivo carattere ( ill-natured) With the previous examples you get an idea when and how to use both words in their correct context .:)

"cattivo" is an adjective and it means "bad". you can use it in order to describe the weather "oggi c'è cattivo tempo",or people "sei un bambino cattivo",or things "un cattivo consiglio". "male" is an adverb and it means "in a not good way", "badly".you can say "trattare male qualcuno", or "la radio funziona male". "male" at the same time can be a noun and its meaning can be "evil" for instance qhen you say "il male e il bene sono forze contrastanti". I hope that this help you a bit,maybe someone else can give you another point of view!! byebye fede