usage of "pire and pis"

YellamarajuC1Kwiziq 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".
Asked 8 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer
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 !
YellamarajuC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Bonjour Aurélie, Thank you very much. It is quite clear.
JamesC1Kwiziq 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"
MarianC1Kwiziq 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 mieux

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".

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