Hi, my kwizbot it is telling my that in this example,”Cette maison est bien. - Oui, elle est ________ l'autre.”
the correct answe is “mieux.” Why? Doesn’t mieux modify a verb? Here were modifying a noun (maison), so it should be “meilleur” by all logic, so why is the correct answer “mieux”?
Hi Kat,
Taken from the lesson -
"Mieux is the comparative form of the adverb bien"
So it was pretty straight forward -
bon ----> meilleur
bien ----> mieux
The problem arises when you just want to say better in French and you don't know if 'bien' or 'bon' is implied.
Hope this helps!
Bonjour Kat,
This aspect of French grammar is quite tricky. I suggest that you have a look at the following link. It will give you a comprehensive overview and provide you with some further support to augment the excellent lesson that you have quoted.
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/meilleur-vs-mieux/
Bonne continuation
Jim
Kat,
the simple answer here is that when ‘ bien ‘ is used, ‘ mieux ‘ is the comparator to use.
Meilleur/e is the comparator corresponding to ‘ bon/ne ‘.
( If there are exceptions to this, I haven’t encountered them or seen them discussed anywhere ).
As to why this is ‘ être bien ‘, which is correct and referring effectively to the ‘ state of ( being) of the house’, that is more complex to explain.
Have a look at the links below to start to delve more deeply :
https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/bien/9151#difficulte
https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/bon/10103#difficulte
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/bon-vs-bien/
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/meilleur-vs-mieux/
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