Comparing options in French

Level A2

Comparing options in French

You are choosing furniture and can see two beds and two chairs. Compare one quality at a time, then point to your choice: plus, moins or aussi…que compares the quality, meilleur means better, and celui-ci or celle-ci replaces the name of the object you show.

Words for the two choices

Lit is bed, masculine (le lit); chaise is chair, feminine (la chaise). Grand/grande means big, cher/chère means expensive, confortable means comfortable, and bon/bonne means good: the two forms shown are masculine/feminine, while confortable has the same singular form for both. Plus means more, moins means less, and aussi…que means as…as when comparing a quality; que after plus or moins means than. Meilleur/meilleure means better, and celui-ci/celle-ci means this one; practise hearing the words with their audio.

Recover the description and the choice

Ce lit means this bed; cette chaise means this chair: ce and cette stand before the noun. Est means is, so Ce lit est confortable describes this bed. Je prends cette chaise means I'll take this chair when choosing to buy it. Once the object is known, Je le prends refers to the bed and Je la prends to the chair: these short object pronouns go before prends. You can use these forms here even if you have not studied them before.

Two beds on display

The two beds on display are labelled A and B; A is bigger and less expensive than B. Listen to the exchange: grand means big and cher means expensive. In the last two lines both people point to bed A: celui-ci refers to that visible bed, and meilleur expresses their judgment of its quality. The final Je prends means I'll take, making a choice rather than simply describing a present action.

More, less, or equally

To compare the qualities shown here, put plus (more), moins (less) or aussi (as) before the adjective and que before the other option. Le lit A est plus grand que le lit B means bed A is bigger than bed B; French keeps plus even though English uses bigger. Le lit A est moins cher que le lit B means A is less expensive, so it costs less. La chaise A est aussi confortable que la chaise B says that the chairs are equally comfortable, not that A is more comfortable. The adjective still agrees with the thing described: grand and cher with lit, grande and chère with chaise; confortable stays the same in these singular examples. The French template reads: object + is + more/less/as + adjective + than/as + other object.

objet est plus / moins / aussi adjectif que autre objet

Better, and the one you are pointing to

For better quality, bon becomes meilleur and bonne becomes meilleure, rather than plus bon or plus bonne in these comparisons; the comparison can name both options: Le lit A est meilleur que le lit B (bed A is better than bed B). Keep the two beds A and B in view and point to A: Celui-ci est meilleur means this bed is better than the other one. Now look at chairs A and B and point to A: Celle-ci est meilleure means this chair is better than the other one. Celui-ci replaces a masculine noun, celle-ci a feminine noun; unlike ce lit or cette chaise, they do not need a following noun. To choose the bed say Je prends celui-ci, and to choose the chair say Je prends celle-ci: this pronoun follows prends, while le/la in Je le/la prends goes before it. The choice follows the French noun's gender, not a person's gender, and English this one does not show that distinction.

Choose a chair

Look at two chairs labelled A and B: A costs less, and the two are equally comfortable. Before playing the answers, say in French that A is less expensive than B, then that A is as comfortable as B. Finally point to chair A and say I'll take this one. Use chère with chaise and celle-ci for the chair you show; all the words have already appeared above. Listen to the three possible answers below and compare them with yours.

Compare two; recognize an advertising claim

For a difference use plus/moins + adjective + que; for equality use aussi + adjective + que. For better quality use meilleur/meilleure, and to point to a known object use celui-ci/celle-ci. The final line is an advertisement: Le lit le plus confortable ! means The most comfortable bed!, claiming the highest comfort in an understood group rather than comparing just A with B. Here le plus confortable is only for recognition: do not build superlatives yet, and do not treat the advertising claim as a verified fact. For now, make a simple comparison and a choice; longer arguments can wait.

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