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Au fur et à mesure des jours, il allait mieux.

Au fur et à mesure des jours, il allait mieux.
As the days went by, he was getting better.
From Lesson 247:Progressive comparison (de plus en plus, de moins en moins)·French

Breakdown of Au fur et à mesure des jours, il allait mieux.

aller
to go
mieux
better (adverb)
le jour
the day
au fur et à mesure
gradually, as one goes

Questions & Answers about Au fur et à mesure des jours, il allait mieux.

What exactly does au fur et à mesure mean?
It is a very common French expression that means 'gradually' or 'as things progress'. When you want to say 'as [something] goes by', you add de. In this sentence, de combines with les jours to become des jours (as the days went by).
Why is aller used here to mean 'getting'?
In French, the verb aller (to go) is used to talk about health and general well-being, just like when you ask Comment ça va ? (How are you doing?). So, to say someone is 'getting better' or 'doing better' health-wise, French uses aller mieux.
Why is the verb in the imparfait (allait) rather than the passé composé?
The imparfait is used here because it describes an ongoing, continuous state in the past. He 'was getting' better gradually over a period of days, rather than it being a single, sudden event.
Since this lesson is about progressive comparisons like de plus en plus, could we use de mieux en mieux here?
Yes, absolutely! You could say il allait de mieux en mieux (he was getting better and better). In this sentence, using just mieux along with the phrase au fur et à mesure already creates that strong progressive feeling of continuous improvement.

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