How to say Good, Better, Best and Well in French

C’est bon ? Non, c’est meilleur ! If you’re learning French, I know that you’ve asked yourself, more than once, should I be saying bien or bon? The same type of question comes up in trying to choose between meilleur or mieux. It is confusing, and since they are extremely present in the French language you need to understand them so you can use them with more confidence.

1) Bon, meilleur and pire

BON is technically an adjective, which means that it modifies a noun. Bon or bonne (féminin) can be translated as “good” but it can also mean “suitable,” “efficient,” “correct,” “useful,” etc.

How is bon used:
Since bon is an adjective, you’ll find it placed in front of a noun (bon with a masculine word, bonne with a feminine word).

Examples:
Un bon docteur. = A good doctor.
Une bonne étudiante. = A good student (female).
Une bonne soirée. = A good evening.
Un bon vin. = A good wine.
J’ai une bonne voiture. = I have a good car.

BUT we also use it in other ways, especially with the verb être:
—When we speak about tasting something, the French will mostly use bon:
Ce gratin est bon. = This gratin is good.
Cette bière est bonne. = This beer is good.
—Many times, a waiter in France will come to the table and say: Ça va ? C’est bon ? = Everything’s OK? Is it good/tasty?
—You’ll also hear bon when something is correct/right/valid:
Ce passeport n’est pas bon.= This passport is not good/valid.
Cette réparation est bonne.= This repair job is good.
—The French will also sometimes say C’est bon ? when asking if something is finished.
NOTE also that the French say very frequently Ah bon ? when they mean “Oh, really?”

The comparative of bon is MEILLEUR, meaning “better.”

Examples:
C’est une meilleure voiture. = This is a better car.
As-tu un meilleur oreiller ? = Do you have a better pillow?
Ce vin est un meilleur vin. = This wine is a better wine.

The superlative of bon is LE/LA MEILLEUR(E), meaning “the best.” Adding the article le or la will mark the difference between “better” or “best.”

Examples:
C’est la meilleure étudiante de la classe. = She’s the best student of the class.
Le meilleur film de l’année est “Patients“. = The best movie of the year is “Patients.”
Ce vin est le meilleur. = This wine is the best.

What if you wish to express the opposite?

PIRE would be the appropriate word. If you want to express it as a comparative, such as this red wine is worse than this white wine, then you would simply say:
Ce vin rouge est pire que ce vin blanc.

LE/LA PIRE expresses “the worst”:
C’est la pire étudiante de la classe. = She’s the worst student of the class.

2) Bien, mieux and plus mal

BIEN is normally an adverb, meaning that it modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It means “well” or can be used to emphasize something, in many different contexts.
You’ve heard many times: Je vais bien — a typical reply to Comment allez-vous ? As you can see, bien, in this case, modifies the verb aller.

Other examples:
J’ai bien mangé.= I ate well.
Nous avons bien travaillé aujourd’hui.= We worked well today.
Je me sens bien.= I feel well.
Ferme bien la porte.= Close the door well.

As mentioned above, bien can also modify an adjective.
Examples:
Il est bien gentil. = He’s quite nice.
C’est bien bête. = It’s really stupid.

Or it can modify an adverb.
Example:
C’est bien mieux.= That’s much better.

NOTES:
—When you want to say that you like someone with the verb aimer (to love), you simply add bien, which reduces the meaning from “to love” to “to like”:
J’aime bien Patrick.= I like Patrick (as a friend).
J’aime Patrick. = I love Patrick.
—You will notice that bien can be used as an adjective with state-of-being verbs like être, as in:
Je suis bien ici ! = I’m great here (I feel great here)!
Il est bien comme professeur.= He is good as a teacher.
Elle est très bien, celle-là ! = She is really great!

BE CAREFUL not to say: Elle est très bonne, celle-là ! You will be making a comment about how she is in bed…

Again, when you’re making sentences with the verb être, you will choose bon when talking about food, or when something is right or wrong. Otherwise bien will be used mostly with the verb être (please note there are a few other exceptions – you can find more information in French Accent magazine Nr. 13, June-July 2008.)

Examples:
Les repas sont bons dans ce restaurant.  = The meals are good in this restaurant.
BUT: La décoration de ce restaurant est bien. = This restaurant’s decoration is good.
Le dossier est bon. = The file is good (correct).
BUT: Le projet est bien. = The project is good (meaning it’s a good/positive one).

The comparative of BIEN is MIEUX, meaning “better.”

Examples:
Tu parles mieux français qu’avant. = You speak better French than before.
Vous dansez mieux que François. = You dance better than François.
Ton vélo marche mieux que le mien. = Your bike is better than mine.

The superlative of bien is LE/LA MIEUX, meaning “the best.”

Examples:
C’est toi qui parles français le mieux.= It’s you who speak French the best.
C’est François qui danse le mieux.= It’s François who dances the best.
Cette secrétaire est la mieux de toutes.= This secretary is the best of all.

The opposite of mieux is PLUS MAL.

Examples:
Tu parles plus mal français qu’avant.= You speak French worse than before
Vous dansez plus mal que François.= You dance worse than François.