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Irregular Comparatives: meilleur and pire

FoundationHigherAQA

Revise Irregular Comparatives: meilleur and pire for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). Meilleur means better and pire means worse, agreeing with the noun.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

Foundation

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Higher

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Topic overview

Bon and mauvais have irregular comparative forms, exactly as good and bad do in English.

Bon becomes meilleur, meaning better. You cannot say plus bon. Meilleur agrees like any adjective: meilleur, meilleure, meilleurs, meilleures.

Mauvais becomes pire, meaning worse, though plus mauvais is also acceptable. The critical distinction is between meilleur and mieux. Meilleur is an adjective and describes a noun: ce livre est meilleur. Mieux is an adverb and describes a verb: il travaille mieux. Confusing the two is one of the most common errors at Higher tier.

Revision notes

Meilleur

Bon becomes meilleur, meaning better. Plus bon is wrong.

It agrees like any adjective: meilleur, meilleure, meilleurs, meilleures. Ce livre est meilleur. Cette voiture est meilleure.

Pire

Mauvais becomes pire, meaning worse.

Plus mauvais is also acceptable and often used. Pire is slightly more formal and appears more in written French.

Meilleur versus mieux

Meilleur is an ADJECTIVE and describes a noun: ce livre est meilleur.

Mieux is an ADVERB and describes a verb: il travaille mieux. Ask what the word is describing — a thing or an action — and the choice follows.

Key points

  • Bon becomes meilleur, not plus bon.
  • Meilleur means better.
  • It agrees like any adjective.
  • Mauvais becomes pire.
  • Meilleur is an adjective describing a noun.
  • Mieux is an adverb describing a verb.

Worked examples

Example 1

Translate: this book is better. [2 marks]

Working

Ce livre est meilleuruse meilleur rather than plus bon
Meilleur is the irregular comparative of bonexplain the irregularity

Example 2

Explain the difference between meilleur and mieux. [2 marks]

Working

Meilleur is an adjective and describes a noun, as in ce livre est meilleurexplain meilleur
Mieux is an adverb and describes a verb, as in il travaille mieuxexplain mieux

Example 3

Translate: this car is better. [2 marks]

Working

Cette voiture est meilleureuse meilleur agreeing with the feminine noun
Meilleure takes an -e to agree with voitureexplain the agreement

Common mistakes

  • Writing plus bon.

    The comparative of bon is meilleur.

  • Confusing meilleur and mieux.

    Adjective describes a noun; adverb describes a verb.

  • Forgetting meilleur agrees.

    It changes like any other adjective.

  • Writing plus meilleur.

    Meilleur already means better.

Exam tips

  • Use meilleur, never plus bon.
  • Ask whether a noun or a verb is described.
  • Agree meilleur with its noun.
  • Learn meilleur and mieux as a contrasting pair.

Key terms

Meilleur
The irregular comparative of bon, meaning better.
Pire
The irregular comparative of mauvais, meaning worse.
Mieux
The adverb meaning better, describing a verb.
Adjective
A word describing a noun, which meilleur is.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.