Language/French/Grammar/Well-Better-Worse
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bien 'well', mieux 'better', mal 'badly', pis 'worse'
One adverb in French has special comparative and superlative forms:
Bien: special comparative forms[edit | edit source]
- bien
well
- mieux
better
- moins bien
less well
- le mieux
the best
- le moins bien
the least well
Examples[edit | edit source]
Elle chante | bien |
mieux | |
moins bien | |
le mieux | |
le moins bien | |
She sings | well |
better | |
less well | |
the best | |
the least well |
Mal adverb[edit | edit source]
The adverb mal 'badly' has two sets of comparative and superlative forms, one regular and one irregular:
Regular | |
---|---|
French | English |
mal | badly |
plus mal | worse |
moins mal | less badly |
le plus mal | the worst |
le moins mal | the least badly |
Irregular | |
French | English |
pis | worse |
le pis | the worst |
Pis and Le pis[edit | edit source]
pis and le pis only occur these days in fixed expressions like:
French | English |
---|---|
tant pis | too bad |
Les choses vont de mal en pis (or de pis en pis) | Things are going from bad to worse |
qui pis est, . . . | what's worse, . . . |
au pis aller | if the worse comes to the worst |
en mettant tout au pis, . . . | at the worst, . . . |
Pire or Pis?[edit | edit source]
Pire and Pis, two words that are often problematic, yet they do not have the same nature.
- Pire is the comparison of the superiority of the adjective 'mauvais', so it must be used as an adjective.
- Le climat n'est pas pire qu'il y a deux jours.
- Pis is the comparative superiority of the adverb 'mal', it is therefore an adverb.
- La situation va de mal en pis.
A little tip to avoid confusing them:
Pire can be replaced by Meilleur.
- La situation était pire ===> la situation était meilleure .
Videos[edit | edit source]
How to choose between "BON, BIEN, MEILLEUR, MIEUX" ?[edit | edit source]
"Superlatives" by Jacqueline Doiron (FrenchByPhone.com)[edit | edit source]
Sources[edit | edit source]
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sfx1PwUcHg&t=176s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW2TuJDWmfc
- https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-17093.php
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Difference between meilleur and mieux
- Position of object pronouns with imperatives
- Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — No change in written or spoken French
- Fused forms of the definite article
- Choice of some time adverbs relative to the moment of speaking
- Polite Form
- Categories of Nouns in French
- Superlative forms of adjectives
- Plurals
- Plural forms of adjectives — Adjectives which end in eau
- When Use à or a
- How to recognize when the start of a relative clause is a direct object
- Gender of compound nouns
- Adverbs ending in —ment derived from the masculine form of an adjective
- Adjectives used as adverbs