The comparative is how French expresses that one thing is more, less, or equally something compared to another. The structure is uniform and easy: take the adjective, slot a comparison word in front, add que (than) and the second item. There are exactly two irregular forms to memorize, and one famous trap involving pronouns. By the end of this page you should be able to produce any comparative sentence in French — more, less, or equally — and avoid the mistakes that English speakers tend to import.
The three comparison words
French has three comparison words that go in front of the adjective:
- plus
- adjective + que — more...than (superiority)
- moins
- adjective + que — less...than (inferiority)
- aussi
- adjective + que — as...as (equality)
Pierre est plus grand que Marie.
Pierre is taller than Marie.
Pierre est moins grand que Marie.
Pierre is less tall than Marie. (Pierre is shorter)
Pierre est aussi grand que Marie.
Pierre is as tall as Marie.
The adjective still agrees with the subject, exactly as it would in any other context. Marie est plus grande que Pierre — feminine grande. Les filles sont plus grandes que les garçons — feminine plural grandes.
Cette voiture est plus rapide que l'autre.
This car is faster than the other one.
Les nouveaux modèles sont moins chers que les anciens.
The new models are less expensive than the older ones.
Ma sœur est aussi sportive que mon frère.
My sister is as athletic as my brother.
Tonic pronouns after que
When the second item of the comparison is a pronoun — "than me," "than you," "than him" — French uses the tonic (stressed) pronoun, not the subject pronoun. This is one of the most common errors English speakers make.
Tu es plus grand que moi.
You are taller than me.
Elle est moins fatiguée que toi.
She is less tired than you.
Mon frère est aussi rapide que lui.
My brother is as fast as him.
The full set of tonic pronouns is:
| Subject | Tonic (after que) |
|---|---|
| je | moi |
| tu | toi |
| il | lui |
| elle | elle |
| nous | nous |
| vous | vous |
| ils | eux |
| elles | elles |
Note that elle, elles, nous, and vous are identical in subject and tonic forms. The tricky ones are je → moi, tu → toi, il → lui, ils → eux. Saying plus grand que je is ungrammatical; it must be plus grand que moi.
Ils sont arrivés plus tôt que nous.
They arrived earlier than us.
Les enfants sont plus excités que vous, c'est normal.
The children are more excited than you, that's normal.
Sa nouvelle copine est moins drôle que la précédente.
His new girlfriend is less funny than the previous one.
This rule extends beyond comparatives — tonic pronouns appear after most prepositions, in stressed positions, and in answers like Moi aussi ! (Me too!). But after que in comparison is where English speakers stumble most often.
The two big irregulars: meilleur and pire
Just like English (good → better, bad → worse), French has two adjectives whose comparative form is irregular and replaces plus + adjective.
bon → meilleur
The comparative of bon is not plus bon — it is meilleur. Saying plus bon is ungrammatical in standard French.
Ce restaurant est meilleur que celui d'à côté.
This restaurant is better than the one next door.
La nouvelle version est meilleure que l'ancienne.
The new version is better than the old one.
Ces gâteaux sont meilleurs que ceux de la boulangerie.
These cakes are better than the ones from the bakery.
Meilleur agrees in gender and number like any adjective: meilleur (m.sg.), meilleure (f.sg.), meilleurs (m.pl.), meilleures (f.pl.).
The negative comparison still uses moins bon (regular form):
Ce vin est moins bon que celui qu'on a bu hier.
This wine is not as good as the one we had yesterday.
And the equality comparison uses aussi bon (regular):
Sa cuisine est aussi bonne que celle de sa mère.
His cooking is as good as his mother's.
So the irregular form meilleur exists only for the "more good = better" sense. Less good and as good use the regular moins bon and aussi bon.
mauvais → pire (or plus mauvais)
The comparative of mauvais has two acceptable forms: the irregular pire and the regular plus mauvais. Both are correct in modern French.
Le service est pire qu'avant, vraiment décevant.
The service is worse than before, really disappointing.
Le service est plus mauvais qu'avant.
The service is worse than before.
The two are interchangeable, but there is a subtle distributional preference: pire sounds slightly more emphatic or moral, often used for situations, abstract qualities, or judgments; plus mauvais sounds more neutral and physical, often used for objective qualities like food, weather, or workmanship.
C'est pire que ce que je pensais.
It's worse than I thought. (situation)
Cette pomme est plus mauvaise que l'autre.
This apple is worse (in quality) than the other one. (physical)
When in doubt, pire is the safer choice and is what most natives will use in conversation. Both are taught and accepted.
Pire invariable for masculine and feminine singular, pires for plural; plus mauvais agrees as normal: plus mauvaise, plus mauvais, plus mauvaises.
petit → moindre (formal only)
You may encounter moindre as a formal comparative of petit, but in everyday French use plus petit. Moindre survives in fixed expressions: à moindre coût (at lower cost), de moindre importance (of lesser importance), le moindre doute (the slightest doubt).
Mon appartement est plus petit que le tien.
My apartment is smaller than yours.
C'est un problème de moindre importance.
It's a matter of lesser importance. (formal)
Adverbial comparison: bien → mieux, mal → plus mal
When you are comparing how an action is done (an adverb), the irregulars work slightly differently. The adverb form of bon is bien, and its comparative is mieux. Crucially, mieux is an adverb — it modifies a verb, not a noun. This is the source of the most common French confusion of all: meilleur (adjective, modifying noun) versus mieux (adverb, modifying verb).
Elle chante mieux que moi.
She sings better than me. (adverb modifying chante)
Sa voix est meilleure que la mienne.
Her voice is better than mine. (adjective modifying voix)
If the word being compared describes how an action is done, use mieux. If it describes a thing (a noun), use meilleur.
Tu cuisines mieux que ta mère.
You cook better than your mother. (cuisines = verb)
Ta cuisine est meilleure que celle de ta mère.
Your cooking is better than your mother's. (cuisine = noun)
Similarly, for mal (badly), the comparative is plus mal (regular) — there is no irregular adverb form parallel to mieux. Some traditional grammars cite pis but it is archaic in modern speech, surviving only in fixed phrases like tant pis (too bad) and de mal en pis (from bad to worse).
Il joue plus mal qu'avant, qu'est-ce qui se passe ?
He's playing worse than before — what's going on?
Comparing nouns and verbs (not adjectives)
The same comparison words extend to nouns and verbs, with small adjustments.
For nouns, use plus de / moins de / autant de + noun + que:
J'ai plus de livres que mon frère.
I have more books than my brother.
Elle a moins de temps que moi pour cuisiner.
She has less time than me to cook.
On a autant de chances que les autres équipes.
We have as many chances as the other teams.
For verbs, place plus / moins / autant after the verb (or use que directly):
Je travaille plus que toi cette semaine.
I'm working more than you this week.
Il dort moins que d'habitude.
He's sleeping less than usual.
On voyage autant qu'avant la pandémie.
We travel as much as we did before the pandemic.
Note that autant is the noun/verb equivalent of aussi: aussi modifies adjectives and adverbs (aussi grand), autant modifies nouns (autant de livres) and verbs (autant qu'avant).
The plus...plus construction
To express "the more...the more" or "the more...the less," French uses plus...plus and plus...moins, with no article (unlike English's the).
Plus tu travailles, plus tu réussis.
The more you work, the more you succeed.
Plus on est de fous, plus on rit.
The more, the merrier. (literally: the more crazy people there are, the more we laugh — proverb)
Plus il vieillit, moins il sort le soir.
The older he gets, the less he goes out at night.
Moins tu manges, plus tu maigris.
The less you eat, the more weight you lose.
There is no le — French simply repeats plus or alternates plus and moins. This is a productive construction used constantly in spoken French.
Comparing with quantifiers and intensifiers
You can intensify a comparison with a quantifier:
Il est beaucoup plus grand que son frère.
He's much taller than his brother.
C'est un peu moins cher chez nous.
It's a little less expensive at our place.
Elle est bien plus rapide que les autres coureurs.
She's much faster than the other runners.
Ce film est légèrement meilleur que le premier.
This movie is slightly better than the first one.
Common intensifiers: beaucoup plus / beaucoup moins (much more / much less), bien plus / bien moins (much more / much less, slightly more emphatic), un peu plus / un peu moins (a little more / a little less), légèrement (slightly), nettement (markedly), infiniment (infinitely).
Common Mistakes
❌ Pierre est plus grand que je.
Incorrect — must use tonic pronoun moi
✅ Pierre est plus grand que moi.
Pierre is taller than me.
Subject pronouns (je, tu, il) cannot stand alone after que. Use the tonic forms (moi, toi, lui). This is the single most common comparative mistake by English speakers.
❌ Ce gâteau est plus bon que l'autre.
Incorrect — bon has an irregular comparative
✅ Ce gâteau est meilleur que l'autre.
This cake is better than the other one.
Never say plus bon. The comparative of bon is meilleur. The only place plus bon is acceptable is in fixed comparative reasoning like plus c'est bon, plus j'en mange — but as a direct comparison of two things, always meilleur.
❌ Elle chante meilleur que moi.
Incorrect — meilleur is an adjective; chanter takes an adverb
✅ Elle chante mieux que moi.
She sings better than me.
The adverb that modifies a verb is mieux, not meilleur. Meilleur modifies nouns; mieux modifies verbs. Elle est meilleure chanteuse (noun: chanteuse — singer) versus elle chante mieux (verb: chante — sings).
❌ J'ai plus livres que toi.
Incorrect — must use plus de before a noun
✅ J'ai plus de livres que toi.
I have more books than you.
Before a noun, plus / moins / autant require de. Before an adjective, no de: plus grand, not plus de grand.
❌ Elle est aussi grand que moi.
Incorrect — adjective must agree with feminine subject
✅ Elle est aussi grande que moi.
She is as tall as me.
The comparison structure does not exempt the adjective from agreement. Grand must become grande for a feminine subject, grands for masculine plural, grandes for feminine plural.
❌ Le plus tu travailles, le plus tu réussis.
Incorrect — no le in the plus...plus construction
✅ Plus tu travailles, plus tu réussis.
The more you work, the more you succeed.
English uses the more...the more, but French does not include any article. Just plus...plus, plus...moins, or moins...plus.
Key Takeaways
The French comparative is built from three small words — plus, moins, aussi — combined with que. Memorize the two real irregulars: meilleur (better, for adjectives modifying nouns) and pire or plus mauvais (worse). Distinguish meilleur (adjective) from mieux (adverb): one modifies things, the other modifies actions. Use tonic pronouns after que: moi, toi, lui, eux. And remember that plus / moins / autant take de before a noun. With these rules in place, you can produce any standard comparison in French naturally.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Le SuperlatifB1 — How to say 'the most' and 'the least' in French — including the position-aware article doubling, the irregular meilleur and pire, and the subjunctive trigger inside relative clauses.
- Comparatifs et Superlatifs IrréguliersB1 — The four irregular comparison sets in French — bon→meilleur, mauvais→pire, petit→moindre, and the adverbs bien→mieux and mal→plus mal — that override the regular plus/moins pattern. Knowing exactly when each form is required is the difference between sounding fluent and sounding like a textbook exercise.
- Les Adjectifs en Français: OverviewA1 — How French adjectives work — the four-form agreement system, the after-the-noun default position, the small set that goes before, and the irregular forms every learner needs from day one.
- Les Subordonnées Comparatives: Plus que, Aussi que, Plus...plusB1 — Comparison clauses pin one thing against another along some scale: taller, smarter, as fast, less expensive. French handles inequality with plus/moins...que, equality with aussi/autant...que, and proportional change with the elegant plus...plus / moins...moins construction. The ne explétif and the meilleur/mieux split round out a system that English tackles much more loosely.
- Phrases ComparativesB1 — Building comparative sentences in French — the plus/moins/aussi system for adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and verbs, the irregular comparatives meilleur, mieux, and pire, and the obligatory disjunctive pronoun after que.
- Les Pronoms Toniques: moi, toi, lui, elle, soi, nous, vous, eux, ellesA2 — An introduction to French disjunctive (stressed) pronouns — the stand-alone forms used after prepositions, in isolation, in comparisons, and for emphasis. Why French needs a separate set of pronouns where English just uses 'me, you, him', and how the disjunctive set fits into the wider pronoun system.