Difference between 'meilleur' and 'mieux'

Language Corner
1
Hello

Please can anyone explain to me the difference between 'meilleur' and 'mieux'? I have this vague idea they're not simply interchangable, but all my dictionnaries just say 'better' or 'best' without telling me which to use in what circumstances.

I've been called to a meeting with my son's teacher/ French tutor tomorrow, which I think will be about his (lack of..) progress, so I'd like to be able to say things like 'It would be better for him if...'*, 'I want to do what is best for him...'

Thanks very much.

kodokan

* What I actually want to say is 'stop trying to get him to read books like the ones I read to his MUCH younger sister about fluffy-wuffy bunnies playing flippin' hide and seek. He's a boy of almost 9 - haven't you anything with knights, space aliens or wizards, or some gruesome non-fiction about bugs or castles?

And while we're on the subject, don't you think it would be more useful in the short term to teach him high frequency words like 'and' or 'with', subject pronouns, verbs like 'run', 'read', etc, rather than 'ink cartridge' or 'pencil sharpener'... Oh, yeah, and if you could stop his form teacher speaking to him in English ALL the time, despite the conversations I've had with her about it, that'd be great too.'

Now, I just to find a suitably circumspect Swiss way of phrasing all this...

2
This page should answer your language question.

3
mieux means better (for example "ce serait mieux si ...." or "je vais mieux maintenant")

meilleur means the best (for example "le meilleur moyen d'apprendre est de ...." or "il est le meilleur élève de sa classe ..."

How about for your 2 phrases : ce serait mieux pour lui si ... je veux la meilleure solution pour lui

4
Not quite right I'm afraid. Meilleur and mieux both mean better. "Le" meilleur and "le" mieux both mean best. Rustygraben's link explains all.

5
The link from Rustygraben is brilliant - should have thought to look on About, I'd forgotten how useful it is.

Many thanks.

kodokan

6
Other precision:

Meilleur = adjective vs Mieux = adverb

7
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8
Oh dear, sorry for misinforming Kodokan.

I already knew that I shouldn't try to explain to my Swiss friends and colleagues why certain things are said in a particular way in English - I think English people often just know if it's right or wrong but have rarely learned to analyse grammar! I certainly never learned English grammar at school like the children learn French grammar in schools here.

... Well it would seem I should stop trying to explain French stuff too ... I think I usually get it right when using it, but apparantly don't really know why.

9
Hi kodokan,

sounds like you and your son are having a good time getting him settled in school!

I found that my son (he's only 4, though) has picked up an impressive amount of French by being with his maman de jour and her 4 year old son. He can talk about knights and aeroplanes now, and I don't understand the half of it! Maybe you can find him a friend who can teach him the essential boy vocab? I have also seen some good picture books on all kinds of topics called L'imagerie, but I don't know if you are too grown-up for them at the age of 9.

PM me if you would like to meet up for a cup of tea and a good rant...

Good luck for your talk to the teacher!

swisskat