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Grammar for dummies C’est bien vs C’est bon

GRAMMAR FOR DUMMIES : C’est bien vs C’est bon

When to use « c’est bon » ?

When to use « c’est bien » ?

When to use « c’est bon » ?

« C’est bon » is used to express a physical sensation.

Examples :

J’adore le chocolat, c’est tellement bon !

Faire la sieste au soleil, c’est vraiment bon.

Faire du sport et manger équilibré, c’est bon pour la santé.

C’est bon de boire une bière après le ski.

In all these examples it’s your body speaking (and very often your stomach speaking).

Note that if your body isn’t too happy about what you’re eating or doing you can use « c’est bon » but in the negative form so « ce n’est pas bon », or the contrary of « bon » which is « mauvais ». So you could say, « c’est mauvais ». Be careful though, it sounds very harsh, so French people in a restaurant for example, if they haven’t liked the food they won’t say « c’était mauvais », they will say « c’était pas très bon », or « c’était pas top », « c’était pas super bon ».

When to use « c’est bien » ?

« C’est bien » is used to expressing a moral judgement, opinion.

Examples :

Tu fais de gros progrès en piano, c’est bien !

Ils sont allés voter, c’est bien.

C’est bien, tu as compris.

C’est bien tu as vaincu ta peur.

In all these examples it’s your mind speaking. You are thinking with your head (not your stomach as above), you are encouraging the person, giving them « thumbs up ».

Note that if you don’t approve someone’s behaviour or something else, French people won’t necessarily use « c’est mal » as it sounds very harsh. Maybe if you have kids and they do something very very bad you can tell them « c’est mal ça !! ». Otherwise, we use the negative form « ce n’est pas bien ».

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