French language Q&A Forum

The note about répartir in this lesson:

Note that the verb répartir is NOT a derivative of partir, but shares its root with the word repartition, and does follow the regular -IR conjugation.

Is a little confusing, because 'partir' is not mentioned anywhere, and there is a very subtle difference with 'repartir' that is also not mentioned. Having some of this context would help!

Bonjour.

re. mal vs mauvais/mauvaise: Is the adverb "mal" used as an adjective with the copular verb être, to say "bad"?

For example, to say "good", do we only use the adjective of "good" with être (a copular verb): "Pierre est bon. C'est un bon homme." But, when saying "bad" instead of "good" with être, do we use "mal" (adverb) instead of mauvais to say "He is bad",  but use "mauvais" when a noun is present? : "Il est mal. C'est un mauvais homme." 

I find this topic confusing.

Cheryl