Utiliser mieux/meilleur bien/bon avec être

Question

Which sentence is better?

"Quelle phrase est meilleure?"

or

"Quelle phrase est mieux?"

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 21 '22 at 13:22

2

The best way to say it would be :

Quelle phrase est la meilleure ?

Using mieux (an adverb) instead of meilleur (an adjective) is possible but usually more colloquial.

See also:

answered Sep 21 '22 at 13:22

jlliagre

Donc, c'est "Quelle phrase est la meilleure ?" qui est la meilleure? – Sextus Empiricus Sep 21 '22 at 14:08
Would this compare to the difference "which sentence is better" versus "which sentence is the best" and "which sentence is best"? Is the meaning between "meilleur" and "la meilleure" different? – Sextus Empiricus Sep 21 '22 at 14:09
Quelle phrase est meilleure ? is fine, Quelle phrase est mieux ? is colloquial, spoken French. – jlliagre Sep 21 '22 at 14:19
Meilleur means "more *bon" and qualify something/someone while mieux* means "more *bien*" and apply to a verb. – jlliagre Sep 21 '22 at 14:25
that's right: la meilleure means "the best (one)". – jlliagre Sep 21 '22 at 14:52

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 21 '22 at 13:20

-1

The first one : "Quelle phrase est meilleure?". In fact, "phrase" has a feminine gender, so you'll say : "meilleure". "Mieux" is used for male nouns.

answered Sep 21 '22 at 13:20

Silent observer

1

Not at all. e.g. : C'est elle la mieux. Also, there are no "male nouns", only masculine ones. – jlliagre Sep 21 '22 at 13:23
No one says "C'est elle la mieux". We all say "meilleure" when we compare a non masculine thing to something – Silent observer Sep 21 '22 at 13:26
I have heard and said enough times C'est elle la mieux to disagree. Moreover we say C'est elle la mieux habillée, not C'est elle la "meilleure habillée". – jlliagre Sep 21 '22 at 14:15
1

@Silentobserver "Ce cheval est le meilleur" and "Cette voiture est la meilleure". But what does mieux have to do with masculine/feminine? It's about determinate versus indeterminate. – Sextus Empiricus Sep 21 '22 at 14:16
I don't like to downvote newcomers, but this answer is factually false dans misleading. – XouDo Sep 26 '22 at 10:13

2 Answers2