English / Français
Comparisons
English adds -er to a word (taller) or uses “more”. French puts plus, moins or aussi before the adjective or adverb, and “than” and “as” are always que. The harder parts are de before numbers and nouns, meilleur versus mieux, and de after a superlative.
Plus, moins, aussi + adjective or adverb + que
French grammar calls this les comparatifs. The adjective or adverb keeps its usual form. Plus (more), moins (less) or aussi (as) goes before it, and que comes after it.
- Luc est plus grand que Camille. Luc is taller than Camille.
- Camille court moins vite que Luc. Camille doesn’t run as fast as Luc.
- Luc est aussi grand que Camille. Luc is as tall as Camille.
- An adjective agrees with the noun it describes: Camille est plus grande que Luc. An adverb never changes: Camille court plus vite que Luc.
- Que becomes qu’ before a vowel: plus grand qu’Anne.
- After que, a pronoun with no verb after it takes the stressed form: plus grand que moi, que toi, que lui, qu’elle, que nous, que vous, qu’eux, qu’elles. The subject forms je, tu and il are not used here. See Pronouns.
With a verb: plus que, moins que, autant que
With a verb there is no adjective to put a word before, so the comparison comes after the verb. French uses autant for “as much”, not aussi.
- Luc travaille plus que Camille. Luc works more than Camille.
- Luc travaille moins que Camille. Luc works less than Camille.
- Camille lit autant que Luc. Camille reads as much as Luc.
Aussi goes only before an adjective or an adverb: Luc travaille aussi vite que Camille.
With a noun: plus de, moins de, autant de
Before a noun, plus, moins and autant are followed by de, and the noun normally has no article. The que part comes after the noun.
- J’ai plus de livres que toi. I have more books than you.
- Il a autant d’amis que moi. He has as many friends as I do.
- Camille a moins de temps que Luc. Camille has less time than Luc.
De becomes d’ before a vowel: autant d’amis, moins d’eau. The noun after de normally has no article: plus de livres, not plus des livres.
With ne, plus de means “no more”, which is a different construction: Il n’y a plus de pain (There is no bread left). See Negation.
Numbers take de
Before a number, “more than” is plus de and “less than” is moins de. Que is not used.
- Il y a plus de dix personnes. There are more than ten people.
- Ça coûte moins de cinq euros. It costs less than five euros.
- Il a plus de trente ans. He is more than thirty years old.
Plus que dix does not mean “more than ten”. It appears in a different construction, ne … plus que: Il ne reste plus que dix minutes (Only ten minutes are left).
The most and the least
The superlative is the article le, la or les, then plus or moins, then the adjective: le plus grand (the tallest), la moins chère (the least expensive). The article and the adjective agree with the noun.
- Adjective before the noun: la plus belle maison (the most beautiful house). The adjective keeps its place, and the article is not repeated.
- Adjective after the noun: la maison la plus chère (the most expensive house). The article comes before the noun and again before plus or moins.
Most adjectives go after the noun, so most superlatives repeat the article: le restaurant le moins cher. A few short, common adjectives go before it, such as petit, grand, beau, bon, jeune and vieux: le plus petit village. See Parts of speech.
The group the superlative is chosen from is introduced by de. English says “in” or “of”.
- Luc est le plus grand de la classe. Luc is the tallest in the class.
- C’est la meilleure pizza de la ville. It is the best pizza in the city.
- C’est la plus belle ville de France. It is the most beautiful city in France.
With le and les, de combines with the article: le plus grand du groupe, le plus grand des élèves. See Prepositions.
With an adverb the article is always le, and it never changes: Camille court le plus vite de la classe (Camille runs the fastest in the class).
“Than” and “as” in the diagrams
Each diagram draws the comparison the same way. The word being compared keeps its line. The second thing hangs under it on a slanted line, with than, as or que written on that line, like a preposition. Plus hangs under the same word on a slanted line of its own. English -er is part of the word, so “taller” has only the than line under it. A compared adverb, such as mieux or autant, gets a short line of its own under the verb, so the que phrase has a line to hang from.
“Taller” is one word. Plus grand is two, and “than” is que.
- Plus (more) goes before the adjective. The adjective agrees with the person it describes: Camille est plus grande que Luc.
- Que is the French word for “than” whatever follows it. Before a vowel it becomes qu’: plus grand qu’Anne.
- After que, a pronoun with no verb after it takes the stressed form: plus grand que moi, que toi, que lui, qu’elle. See Pronouns.
- Moins (less) and aussi (as) take the same place: moins grand que, aussi grand que.
De stands between plus and the noun. “More books” is plus de livres.
- Before a noun, plus, moins and autant are followed by de, and the noun normally has no article: plus de livres, moins de temps, autant d’amis.
- De becomes d’ before a vowel: autant d’amis, moins d’eau.
- J’ai is two words written together. J’ is je with its vowel dropped, and ai is the verb.
- After que the pronoun is toi, not tu.
Mieux is the adverb for “better”. It describes the verb, and “than” is que.
- Mieux is the comparative of the adverb bien (well). It says how Camille sings, so it describes the verb. The adjective meilleur describes a noun. See the section on meilleur and mieux below.
- Mieux already means “more well”, so it takes no plus. It never changes its ending.
- Mieux sits on a short line of its own under the verb, so that the que phrase has a line to hang from. The English diagram does the same with “better”.
- After que the pronoun is moi, not je: chante mieux que moi, que toi, que lui.
Same diagram. After a superlative, “in” is de.
- The superlative is the article plus the comparative: le meilleur, la meilleure, les meilleurs. Meilleur goes before the noun, so the article is not repeated: le meilleur restaurant.
- English introduces the group with “in”. French uses de: de la ville, de France. With le and les it combines: du monde, des élèves.
- Meilleur is an adjective, so it agrees with its noun: la meilleure pizza de la ville.
- C’ is ce with its vowel dropped. It is the subject, and est is the verb.
“As much” is one word, autant. The second “as” is que.
- With a verb French uses autant, not aussi: Luc travaille autant que Camille. Aussi goes only before an adjective or an adverb: Luc travaille aussi vite que Camille.
- Autant sits on a short line of its own under the verb, so that the que phrase has a line to hang from.
- Before a noun, autant is followed by de: Luc a autant d’amis que Camille.
Irregular forms
Bon and bien have a comparative of their own, written as one word. Mauvais has a regular form and the one-word form pire. The others in the table follow the regular pattern.
| English | Basic form | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| good (adjective) | bon | meilleur | le meilleur |
| well (adverb) | bien | mieux | le mieux |
| bad (adjective) | mauvais | plus mauvais, pire | le plus mauvais, le pire |
| badly (adverb) | mal | plus mal | le plus mal |
| small (adjective) | petit | plus petit | le plus petit |
filled cell: one word, not plus and the basic form
- Meilleur agrees with its noun: meilleure, meilleurs, meilleures. Mieux never changes.
- Moins and aussi stay regular: moins bon, aussi bon, moins bien, aussi bien. Ce film est moins bon que le livre. The film is not as good as the book.
- For “worse”, plus mauvais and pire are both used. Pire is common for situations and abstract things: C’est pire (It is worse), La situation est pire qu’hier. Plus mauvais is common for the quality of a thing: Ce café est plus mauvais que l’autre. For the weather, French says Il fait plus mauvais qu’hier. In conversation moins bon often replaces plus mauvais: Ce café est moins bon que l’autre.
- Mal becomes plus mal: Je me sens plus mal qu’hier (I feel worse than yesterday).
Better: meilleur or mieux
English “better” covers two French words. Meilleur describes a noun, like any adjective. Mieux describes a verb, like any adverb. For the difference between an adjective and an adverb, see Parts of speech.
- C’est un meilleur film. It is a better film. (Meilleur describes film.)
- Il chante mieux que moi. He sings better than me. (Mieux describes chante.)
- Camille est la meilleure de la classe. Camille is the best in the class. With the article, meilleur means “the best”.
- The standard comparative of bon is meilleur. Plus bon is not the standard way to say “better”.
- Plus bon does appear when plus belongs to another construction: Ce n’est plus bon (It is no longer good), plus ou moins bon (more or less good).
- Mieux also appears in common phrases where English says “better”: Je vais mieux (I feel better), Il vaut mieux attendre (It is better to wait).
Ne after a comparison B1 and above
After plus or moins, que can introduce a clause with its own verb. Careful or written French often puts ne before that verb.
- C’est plus cher que je ne pensais. It is more expensive than I thought.
- Elle est moins timide qu’elle ne paraît. She is less shy than she seems.
This ne is not negative. Neither sentence has a “not” in it. It belongs to careful and written style, and speech often leaves it out: C’est plus cher que je pensais. After aussi and autant there is normally no ne.
This is a different use of ne from ne … pas, which does make a sentence negative. See Negation.