Irregular Comparatives and Superlatives

In French, we have two main groups for comparison: adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives describe things, like a bon (good) croissant. Adverbs describe actions, like singing bien (well). This distinction is crucial for irregulars. Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number. If you have two female friends, they are the meilleures (best). Adverbs are much easier. They never change their spelling. Think of them as the steady rocks of French grammar. Most people mix up meilleur and mieux at first. Do not worry about that. Even native speakers have to pause sometimes! Just remember: meilleur is for "things," and mieux is for "actions."

1. 1For the adjective bon (good), use meilleur (better).
2. 2For the superlative "the best," use le meilleur (or la / les).
3. 3For the adverb bien (well), use mieux (better).
4. 4For the superlative "the best," use le mieux (always le).
5. 5For mauvais (bad), you can use pire (worse).
6. 6For petit (small), use moindre (lesser) for abstract ideas.
7. 7For beaucoup (much), use plus (more) and le plus (the most).
8. 8For peu (little), use moins (less) and le moins (the least).

Use meilleur when you are at a restaurant. You want to tell the waiter the wine is "better" than the last one. It is perfect for comparing your phone to your friend's new model. Use mieux when talking about your progress in French class. "I speak better now!" is a classic sentence for you. These words are essential for job interviews. You can explain why you are the meilleur candidate for the role. They also help when asking for directions. You might ask for a meilleur path to avoid the heavy traffic. Basically, if you are ranking anything in your life, you need these.

Never use plus bon. It sounds like nails on a chalkboard to French ears. It is like saying "more gooder" in English. Avoid using meilleur to describe how a verb is performed. You cannot say "I dance meilleur." That is a job for mieux. Also, be careful with pire and plus mauvais. While pire is common, it is often for more serious things. Don't use moindre for physical size. If your cat is smaller than mine, use plus petit. Moindre is for things like "the least effort" or "no doubt."

The biggest trap is the meilleur vs mieux confusion. Think of it like a grammar traffic light. Meilleur describes the car. Mieux describes how the car drives. Another slip-up is forgetting to make meilleur feminine or plural. A group of girls are the meilleures, not just meilleur. Many learners also try to say le plus mieux. This is redundant. Mieux already means "better," and le mieux means "the best." Just keep it simple. If you find yourself adding plus to an irregular, stop! You have probably found an exception.

Regular comparisons use the plus + adjective + que formula. For example, plus grand que (taller than). Irregular comparatives replace that whole plus + adjective unit. Meilleur stands alone without needing plus. However, they both use que to link the two things compared. Ce café est meilleur que l'autre. Both patterns also use le/la/les for the superlative. Regular: le plus grand. Irregular: le meilleur. The logic is identical, but the word itself changes shape. Think of regular words as Lego blocks. Irregular words are custom-carved pieces.