Good in French: bon or bien, then adjectives that agree

Good in French is bon or bien, and the two do different jobs. This page sorts them out, shows how to say very good and bad, then covers how French adjectives agree with the noun and where they sit in the sentence. For more small words that work differently from English, see Yes in French. For the pronouns that adjectives agree with, see Me in French. To practise afterwards, try French grammar exercises.

How do you say good in French?

You say bon or bien. Bon (feminine bonne) is an adjective: it describes a noun. The Académie française lists it for food (“du bon pain”), for pleasant things (“une bonne nouvelle”, “de bonnes vacances”) and for useful or well-made things (“un bon couteau”) [1].

Bien is mainly an adverb: it says how something is done. The Académie’s examples are “Elle chante bien” and “Il se porte bien” [2]. So you describe a thing with bon and an action with bien.

Bien is also an adjective that never changes. After a verb such as être, it means “as one could wish”: “Ce n’est pas bien de mentir”, “Des gens très bien” [2]. This is where English speakers slip, because “the film is good” can be either word.

The comparatives are separate words. The Académie sends the comparative of bon to meilleur and the comparative of bien to mieux [1][2].

One more use of bon: “C’est bon !” can be an interjection used to bring a conversation to an end [1].

How do you say very good in French?

You say très bon for a good thing and très bien for something that is well done or right. The Académie’s examples are “C’est très bien” for bien [2] and, in its 1935 edition, “Cette viande a un très bon goût” for bon [9]. Bon still agrees with its noun: un très bon livre, une très bonne idée.

Bien can also be the intensifier. Before an adjective, the Académie glosses it as “très, tout à fait”: “Il est bien malade”, “un café bien fort” [2]. That is why “bien bon” can mean very good, and why the same small word can be doing two jobs in one sentence.

How do you say bad in French?

The pair is mauvais and mal. Mauvais (feminine mauvaise) is the adjective. The Académie says that, when it is not an attribute after a verb, it usually comes before the noun [4]. Mal is the adverb: “Cet enfant écrit mal”, “Il joue mal au bridge” [3].

The Académie sends the comparative and the superlative of mauvais to pire [4]. Like bien, mal also works as an adjective after être in some set uses: “C’est mal, très mal de colporter ces calomnies” [3].

What are French adjectives?

French adjectives are the words that describe a noun or pronoun. The OQLF splits them into two kinds: qualifying adjectives, which give a quality or fault, and classifying adjectives, which put the noun in a category [6]. Both take the gender and number of the noun they go with [6].

Bon, mauvais, grand and noir are qualifying adjectives. A classifying one is provincial in “le gouvernement provincial”: it cannot be modified by an adverb such as très [6].

How do adjectives in French agree with the noun?

An adjective matches the noun in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (one or several). The OQLF’s example has the adjective after être: “Pauline était extrêmement inquiète” [6].

To make a feminine, the general rule is to add an e to the masculine: “un ara bleu / une peur bleue” [7]. Some endings change, as the table shows.

The plural follows its own pattern. The OQLF’s colour list shows how the four forms line up:

Source for the table: [8]. Gris keeps the same form in the masculine plural, and rouge does not change for gender. Not every colour agrees at all: the same OQLF page lists colours named after things, such as orange, marron and citron, that do not vary [8].

With two nouns joined by et, the adjective is generally plural. If the genders differ, it goes masculine plural: “une bonne humeur et d’un équilibre étonnants” [10]. Bien, as seen above, stays the same for everyone [2].

Where do adjectives go in French?

Some come after the noun, some come before, and the position can change the meaning. The Académie’s entry says the adjective is placed before or after the noun, depending on the case, and gives pairs where the sense changes: “un brave homme, un homme brave” and “un repas maigre, un maigre repas” [5].

Three patterns help.

• Bon and mauvais. For people with a skill, the Académie notes that bon generally goes before the noun: “un bon médecin”, “une bonne nageuse” [1]. For a person’s kindness, it gives “un homme bon” after the noun [1]. Mauvais usually goes before the noun [4].
• Classifying adjectives. The OQLF says they always come after the noun: “les paysages gaspésiens”, not “les gaspésiens paysages” [6].
• Other qualifying adjectives. They may go either side. The OQLF’s examples are “un hiver interminable” (after) and “un gros fumeur” (before) [6].

Five adjectives have a second masculine form before a vowel or a silent h: beau, fou, mou, nouveau and vieux become bel, fol, mol, nouvel and vieil, as in “un bel exemple” and “un nouvel habitant” [7]. The feminine comes from that form: belle, nouvelle, vieille [7].

Common mistakes

• Using bon for an action. “Elle chante bon” is wrong. The Académie’s example is “Elle chante bien” [2].
• Making bien agree. “Des gens très bien” keeps the same form for every noun [2].
• Forgetting to double the n. The feminine of bon is bonne, not “bone” [7].
• Writing “un beau exemple”. Before a vowel the masculine form is bel [7].
• Putting every adjective after the noun. Bon and mauvais usually go before it, and classifying adjectives always go after [1][4][6].
• Taking a blog’s grammar rule as final, this one included. The dictionary and language-office pages change. Check the date on each official page against the date at the top of this one.

See also: colours in French and French articles and gender.

See also: French possessive adjectives and body parts in French.

See also: French plural and French adverbs.

Sources