How do you form a comparative adverb in French?

Put plus, moins, or aussi in front of the adverb and que in front of the thing you are comparing with: elle parle plus lentement que moi. The adverb itself never changes form, because adverbs in French are invariable.

Why is it mieux and not plus bien?

Bien is one of four adverbs with a built-in comparative, so it becomes mieux instead of taking plus. The same happens with beaucoup, which becomes plus, and with peu, which becomes moins. You will hear plus bien only as a slip or in regional speech.

What's the difference between mieux and meilleur?

Mieux is an adverb and describes a verb: elle cuisine mieux, she cooks better. Meilleur is an adjective and describes a noun, so it agrees with it: sa cuisine est meilleure, her cooking is better. English uses better for both, which is why the pair has to be learned deliberately.

When do I use plus de instead of plus que?

Plus de goes before a number or a quantity: j'ai plus de trente ans, plus d'une heure. Plus que introduces something you are comparing against: il mange plus que moi. Getting these the wrong way round changes the meaning rather than just sounding odd.

Is the s in plus pronounced?

In a comparison before a consonant it is silent: plus vite sounds like [ply vit]. Before a vowel it is pronounced as a z through liaison, as in plus attentivement, and when plus ends the phrase, as in il mange plus, the s is pronounced as an s.

French grammar · Intermediate

Comparative Adverbs in French: Plus, Moins, Aussi, and Mieux

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

A comparative adverb compares how two things are done. French wraps the adverb in plus… que, moins… que, or aussi… que, and unlike adjectives the adverb never agrees with anything. Bien and beaucoup are the exceptions: they become mieux and plus rather than taking plus in front.

Elle conduit plus prudemment que son frère.

She drives more carefully than her brother.

What it is

Comparing actions works the same way in French as comparing qualities, with one simplification: because adverbs are invariable, there is no agreement to worry about. You put plus, moins, or aussi in front of the adverb and que in front of whatever you are comparing it to, and the adverb itself stays exactly as it was.

Il travaille plus lentement que moi, mais il travaille mieux. — He works more slowly than I do, but he works better.

How to spot it

Find the word the comparison is describing. If it describes a verb — how, how often, how much someone does something — you need a comparative adverb, and the form you write will never change.

Elle court plus vite que moi. — She runs faster than I do.
Nous sortons moins souvent qu'avant. — We go out less often than before.
Tu écris aussi clairement que lui. — You write as clearly as he does.
Ils comprennent mieux maintenant. — They understand better now.

The second half of the comparison can simply be left out when it is obvious: elle court plus vite is a complete, natural sentence.

Comparative Adverbs Quick Reference

The three comparisons, plus the four irregular adverbs

Pattern	Meaning	Example
plus + adverb + que	more … than	plus vite que moi — faster than me
moins + adverb + que	less … than	moins souvent que toi — less often than you
aussi + adverb + que	as … as	aussi bien que lui — as well as him
bien → mieux	better	Elle chante mieux. — She sings better.
beaucoup → plus	more	Il travaille plus. — He works more.
peu → moins	less	Je dors moins. — I sleep less.
mal → plus mal (pis)	worse	Ça va de mal en pis. — It's going from bad to worse.

Common Comparative Adverbs Examples in French

Comparative adverbs at work in ordinary sentences:

More: plus … que

Il parle plus fort que nécessaire.: He speaks more loudly than necessary.
Je me lève plus tôt que d'habitude.: I get up earlier than usual.
Elle répond plus poliment que son collègue.: She answers more politely than her colleague.
Le train arrive plus tard le dimanche.: The train arrives later on Sundays.

Plus before a consonant is pronounced [ply]; at the end of a phrase, as in il travaille plus, the s comes back.

Less: moins … que

Il conduit moins vite qu'avant.: He drives less fast than he used to.
On se voit moins régulièrement depuis son déménagement.: We see each other less regularly since he moved.
Elle a répondu moins sèchement cette fois.: She answered less curtly this time.
Je mange moins le soir.: I eat less in the evening.

Moins is the only one of the three that English has no single word for; less quickly and not as quickly both land on moins vite.

The Same: aussi … que

Tu cuisines aussi bien que ta mère.: You cook as well as your mother.
Il travaille aussi dur que nous.: He works as hard as we do.
Elle est partie aussi discrètement qu'elle était venue.: She left as discreetly as she had come.
Ça coûte aussi cher qu'avant.: It costs as much as before.

English says as … as, with the same word twice. French uses two different words: aussi first, que second.

The Irregular Comparatives

Elle nage mieux que moi.: She swims better than I do.
Il lit beaucoup, mais sa sœur lit plus.: He reads a lot, but his sister reads more.
Depuis l'opération, il marche plus mal.: Since the operation, he walks worse.
Nous dormons moins qu'à vingt ans.: We sleep less than we did at twenty.

Four adverbs refuse the plus construction and change shape instead. Mieux is by far the most frequent of them.

How Comparative Adverbs Work

Five habits cover almost everything, and the first one is the reason this construction is easier than the adjective version.

The Adverb Never Agrees

Adverbs modify verbs, not nouns, so nothing in the sentence can force them to change. Plus lentement stays plus lentement whether the subject is one man, one woman, or a crowd. This is the whole difference from comparative adjectives, which have to match their noun.

Mes sœurs conduisent plus prudemment que mes frères.

My sisters drive more carefully than my brothers.

No agreement on an adverb, ever.

Que Introduces the Second Term

Whatever you are comparing against follows que. If it is a pronoun, French uses the stressed form — moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles — not the subject form, so plus vite que je is impossible.

Ils réagissent plus calmement que nous.

They react more calmly than we do.

que + stressed pronoun.

Bien and Beaucoup Change Shape

Four common adverbs have their own comparative rather than taking plus in front. Bien becomes mieux, beaucoup becomes plus, peu becomes moins, and mal becomes plus mal, with the older form pis surviving only in fixed phrases like tant pis.

Tant pis, on fera mieux la prochaine fois.

Never mind, we'll do better next time.

bien → mieux, beaucoup → plus.

Short Comparatives Sit Inside a Compound Tense

In the passé composé and other compound tenses, a short adverb like mieux, plus, or moins goes between the auxiliary and the past participle. Longer adverbs in -ment usually go after the participle instead.

J'ai mieux dormi cette nuit, et je me suis levé plus facilement.

I slept better last night, and I got up more easily.

avoir + mieux + participle.

Plus De Counts, Plus Que Compares

Before a number or a quantity, more than is plus de, not plus que. Plus que in front of a number means something quite different: it is the que of comparison, so plus que trois would have to be comparing with the number three itself.

J'ai attendu plus d'une heure et moins de deux.

I waited more than an hour and less than two.

plus de + a number.

Common Mistakes with Comparative Adverbs

Incorrect: Elle chante plus bien que moi. — She sings better than I do.

Correct: Elle chante mieux que moi. — She sings better than I do.

Bien has its own comparative, mieux, and refuses plus in front of it. The trap is that English says more slowly but also better, hiding the irregularity.

Incorrect: Il court aussi vite comme moi. — He runs as fast as I do.

Correct: Il court aussi vite que moi. — He runs as fast as I do.

English repeats the same word in as … as, which pushes learners towards comme. French uses aussi for the first slot and que for the second; comme introduces a manner, not a comparison.

Incorrect: Il travaille plus rapide que son frère. — He works faster than his brother.

Correct: Il travaille plus rapidement que son frère. — He works faster than his brother.

Rapide is an adjective, so it cannot describe travaille. English lets fast do both jobs, but French needs the adverb rapidement, or the ready-made adverb vite.

Incorrect: J'ai attendu plus que deux heures. — I waited more than two hours.

Correct: J'ai attendu plus de deux heures. — I waited more than two hours.

In front of a number, more than is plus de. Que is reserved for comparing with something else, so plus que deux heures would mean more than the two hours are, which is not what you want to say.

Strengthening, Softening, and Negating a Comparison

Once the basic pattern is in place, these three refinements are what make the comparison sound like something a French speaker would actually say.

Widening or narrowing the gap

Put an intensifier in front of plus or moins to say how big the difference is. Beaucoup and bien widen it, un peu narrows it, and encore adds another step to a gap that already exists.

Il court beaucoup plus vite que moi.: He runs much faster than I do.
Elle est arrivée bien plus tard que prévu.: She arrived much later than expected.
Parle un peu moins fort.: Speak a little less loudly.
Aujourd'hui, il pleut encore plus qu'hier.: Today it's raining even more than yesterday.

Très is impossible here. You cannot say très plus vite, in the same way English refuses very faster.

Aussi becomes si after a negative

In a negative sentence, careful French replaces aussi with si. Both are heard in conversation, but si is the form that will look right in writing.

Il ne chante pas si bien que ça.: He doesn't sing all that well.
Elle n'écrit pas si souvent qu'elle le voudrait.: She doesn't write as often as she would like.
Ce n'est pas si simple.: It isn't that simple.

The fixed phrase pas si bien que ça, meaning not all that well, is worth learning as a unit.

The ne that means nothing

In formal French, a clause introduced by que after plus or moins often takes a ne that has no negative meaning at all. It is called the ne explétif, and removing it changes nothing.

Il travaille plus qu'on ne le croit.: He works harder than people think.
C'est arrivé plus vite que je ne l'imaginais.: It happened faster than I imagined.
Elle est moins timide qu'on ne le dit.: She's less shy than people say.

Never add pas to this ne. Plus qu'on ne le croit pas would turn the sentence into something you did not mean.

Comparative Adverbs FAQs

How do you form a comparative adverb in French?: Put plus, moins, or aussi in front of the adverb and que in front of the thing you are comparing with: elle parle plus lentement que moi. The adverb itself never changes form, because adverbs in French are invariable.
Why is it mieux and not plus bien?: Bien is one of four adverbs with a built-in comparative, so it becomes mieux instead of taking plus. The same happens with beaucoup, which becomes plus, and with peu, which becomes moins. You will hear plus bien only as a slip or in regional speech.
What's the difference between mieux and meilleur?: Mieux is an adverb and describes a verb: elle cuisine mieux, she cooks better. Meilleur is an adjective and describes a noun, so it agrees with it: sa cuisine est meilleure, her cooking is better. English uses better for both, which is why the pair has to be learned deliberately.
When do I use plus de instead of plus que?: Plus de goes before a number or a quantity: j'ai plus de trente ans, plus d'une heure. Plus que introduces something you are comparing against: il mange plus que moi. Getting these the wrong way round changes the meaning rather than just sounding odd.
Is the s in plus pronounced?: In a comparison before a consonant it is silent: plus vite sounds like [ply vit]. Before a vowel it is pronounced as a z through liaison, as in plus attentivement, and when plus ends the phrase, as in il mange plus, the s is pronounced as an s.