Français — irregular comparatives (good / well / bad)
Three high-frequency French words form their comparative irregularly: the adjective bon becomes meilleur, the adverb bien becomes mieux, and mauvais becomes pire (or plus mauvais). Choosing correctly depends on whether you describe a noun or a verb.
How it works
The adjective bon (and its forms bonne, bons, bonnes) becomes meilleur and agrees with the noun: Ce gâteau est meilleur que l'autre. The adverb bien becomes mieux and never changes form: Elle danse mieux maintenant. For "worse", the adjective mauvais becomes pire or plus mauvais: Sa note est pire que la mienne.
Examples
| Base form | Comparative / superlative | Type and meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bon / bonne | meilleur(e) | good → better (adjective, agrees with the noun) |
| bien | mieux | well → better (adverb, invariable) |
| mauvais / mauvaise | pire / plus mauvais(e) | bad → worse (adjective) |
| mal | plus mal / pis | badly → worse (adverb; pis is literary) |
| le bon / la bonne | le meilleur / la meilleure | the best (superlative adjective) |
| bien | le mieux | the best (superlative adverb) |
Good to know
Never say plus bon or plus meilleur — the comparison is already built into meilleur. Likewise, use meilleur for an adjective (un meilleur résultat) but mieux for an adverb (travailler mieux); mixing them up is the most common mistake. Note that plus mauvais and pire are both correct, but bien meilleur / bien pire (with bien meaning "much") is the natural intensifier, not très.