usage of "pire and pis"
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YellamarajuKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
usage of "pire and pis"
Ses relations avec elle vont de mal en pis / Ça va de pire en pire. When to use pire and pis both mean "worse".
This question relates to:French lesson "Better and better, worse and worse = de mieux en mieux, de pire en pire (Comparisons in French)"
Asked 7 years ago
Bonjour Yellamaraju !
The word "pis" is the old version of "pire", and as such it is used much less in speech and written French nowadays.
You will usually encounter "pis" in fixed expressions, such as "de mal en pis" (you would never say "de mal en pire") or "tant pis" (i.e. too bad).
The rest of the time, you use "pire" to express "worse"
I hope that's helpful !
A bientôt !
The word "pis" is the old version of "pire", and as such it is used much less in speech and written French nowadays.
You will usually encounter "pis" in fixed expressions, such as "de mal en pis" (you would never say "de mal en pire") or "tant pis" (i.e. too bad).
The rest of the time, you use "pire" to express "worse"
I hope that's helpful !
A bientôt !
JamesKwiziq community member
Ma mémoire est de pire en pireMy memory is getting worse and worse
This seems to be different to some of the other sentences since they use verbs like "aller" and "devenir" - there's nothing here that seems to be translate as "getting worse"
This seems to be different to some of the other sentences since they use verbs like "aller" and "devenir" - there's nothing here that seems to be translate as "getting worse"
MarianKwiziq community member
Why would "de plus en plus mieux" not be an acceptable answer here?
Comment va ta jambe ? - ________."How's your leg? - Better and better.De mieux en mieuxde plus en plus mieuxDon't have an account yet? Join today
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