Words for Good and Bad

In a recent lesson, we talked about the words bon/bonne and mauvais/mauvaise, which respectively mean "good" and "bad," but can also mean "right" and "wrong" depending on context. It's easy to confuse these with the words bien and mal, which have similar meanings ("well" and "badly/poorly") but different functions.

Bon/bonne and mauvais/mauvaise are adjectives, which means they change according to the number and gender of the noun they modify:

Alors justement je crois que c'est vraiment une très bonne chose...

So, exactly, I think that it's really a very good thing...

Caption 56, Alsace 20 - 100 recettes pour 100 vins
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Il y a eu la destruction de la partie de maison existante

There was the destruction of the existing part of the house

qui était en très mauvais état.

that was in very bad shape.

Caption 22, Thomas - Thomas et sa maison
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On the other hand, bien and mal are adverbs, which can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Unlike adjectives, these never change in French:

...un grand orfèvre parisien que Balzac connaissait bien.

who was a great Parisian goldsmith whom Balzac knew well.

Caption 28, Exposition - Balzac, architecte d'intérieurs
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Il paraît que les voyages en train finissent mal en général

It seems that train rides generally end badly

Caption 54, Grand Corps Malade - Les Voyages en train
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Just as it's ungrammatical to say "whom Balzac knew good" and "train rides generally end bad" in English, in French you can't say que Balzac connaissait bon or les voyages en train finissent mauvais. You have to use bien/mal.

Bien and mal can also function as nouns. In philosophical terms, they refer to "good" and "evil":

Quelle est la différence entre le bien et le mal?
What is the difference between good and evil?

But they have more down-to-earth meanings as well. For instance, the plural les biens means "goods," as in commodities or possessions. And mal can also refer to illness or harm, as in the expressions avoir mal and faire mal:

J'ai mal à l'oreille.
I have an earache.

Ne me fais pas mal!
Don't hurt me!

In everyday speech, bon and bien are also used as interjections, in which case they're more or less interchangeable. They both correspond to the English interjection "well" in this context:

Eh bien, j'espère que vous avez passé un bon moment, ici, sur Arles.

Well, I hope you had a good time here, in Arles.

Caption 21, Arles - Un Petit Tour d'Arles
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Bon, il y a des raisons personnelles évidemment qui jouent.

Well, obviously there are personal reasons that come into play.

Caption 17, Alphabétisation - des filles au Sénégal
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It's sometimes hard to tell the difference between good and bad, but at least now you know the difference between bon, mauvais, bien, and mal!

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Topics Vocabulary