Cette maison est bien. - Oui, elle est ________ l'autre.

Zainab M.B2Kwiziq community member

Cette maison est bien. - Oui, elle est ________ l'autre.

Pour cette question, j'ai mis "meilleure que" mais cela dit que la bonne reponse doit etre "mieux que", alors qui a raison? Je pensais qu'on utilise "meilleur" avec le verbe etre. 

Asked 2 years ago
Evan B.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributorCorrect answer

I'll explain in English because I think it's more helpful considering the topic can be confusing using the same words used to describe the concept itself. 

"Meilleur" is a word that speaks to nouns. Something is good.  The noun is imbued with "goodness". 

"Mieux" is a word that speak to verbs.  Something is going well, learning well.  The action taken by the noun is good... well, the action is going well. :) 

So if a noun is described better at a specific action - mieux.  Otherwise meilleur to compare the two nouns directly.

The hint for your question is the word "bien" in the tee up. "Bien" is an adverb. So that should be your hint that we need to use the adverbial comparative "mieux" as well. 

Last point to this - in English if someone asks you how you're doing, the correct answer is "I am well" since you're speaking to a mutable condition of yourself - your health, emotional state, etc. To say "I am good" speaks to the unmutable characteristic of your "goodness".  Sounds a bit egotistical, no? 

So the use of the verb "être" does not mean to use "meilleur" or "mieux".  It's context dependent.  

Zainab M. asked:

Cette maison est bien. - Oui, elle est ________ l'autre.

Pour cette question, j'ai mis "meilleure que" mais cela dit que la bonne reponse doit etre "mieux que", alors qui a raison? Je pensais qu'on utilise "meilleur" avec le verbe etre. 

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Thinking...