Bad at means not able to do something well: I'm bad at maths means maths doesn't come easily to you. People use it for weak skills, often jokingly about themselves: bad at cooking, bad at remembering dates. Not very good at sounds softer.
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bad at + noun/-ing; really/pretty bad at; bad for + person/health
- I'm bad at small talk, so networking events make me a bit nervous.
- Tom was bad at physics at school, but now he designs bridges.
- Most people are bad at guessing how long a task will really take.
What changed
First versionI'm really bad at speak in public, so I practise my presentations at home.
RevisionI'm really bad at speaking in public, so I practise my presentations at home.
It's easy to leave the verb in its base form after at, as if it were to + verb. But after the preposition at, a verb always takes -ing: bad at speaking.
Bad for means something quite different, 'harmful to': Too much coffee is bad for you. And for names, numbers and money, people often say bad with: I'm bad with names means you find it hard to remember names.
Your turn
I'm really ___ drawing: when I tried to draw my cat, it looked like a potato.
Show the answer
bad at — Drawing doesn't come easily to the speaker; it's a weak skill, so bad at. Bad for would mean 'harmful to drawing', which isn't the meaning here.
Write about something in everyday life that you're bad at, and say how you deal with it.
I'm bad at keeping track of my spending, so I've started writing down every purchase in an app.
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