why 'mala vitae' not 'malae vitae'?

[Fausta]

Salvete! I was working on the following sentence 'Propter adulescentiam, filii mei, mala vitae non videbatis.' Why is it 'mala vitae' and not 'malae vitae'. I can see that vita is feminine and that is why mala was used. Thank you

[Barry Hofstetter]

mala here is a neuter accusative plural substantive, "the evil things of life." Malae vitae wouldn't work at all -- can you see why?

[Fausta]

Thanks Barry. I was reading it as 'a bad life'. It's all clear now.

[Aulus]

The point is that if it was "a bad life", then it would be "malam vitam", not "malae vitae".