French grammar - To miss -manquer |
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The verb manquer à can mean to 'to miss' in an emotional sense. Used this way it takes an indirect object and is therefore coupled with à when its object is anything other than an indirect pronoun (me, te, lui etc). The fact that it takes an indirect object means that, in the mind of an English speaker, its use is inverted. -- So in French we say 'Jacques is missing to Juliette' - which means 'Juliette misses Jacques'. Another meaning for manquer is 'to lack', so with the à we could think of this as 'Jacques is lacking to Juliette'. Indeed manquer can also be used with a direct object to mean 'to lack'. |
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Jacques manque à Juliette.
Juliette misses Jacques.
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Je manque à Jean_Luc.
Jean-Luc misses me. |
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Elle me manque.
I miss her. |
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Je me demande si je lui manque.
I wonder if he misses me. |
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Le travail ne me manque pas.
I don't miss work. |
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Marianne m'a manqué pendant de nombreuses années.
I missed Marianne for many years. |
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Sa copine manque-t-elle à Romain ?
Does Romain miss his girlfriend? |
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Mes journées universitaires me manquent.
I miss my college days. |
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Hélène leur manque.
They miss Helen. |
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Votre pays vous manque ?
Do you (formal) miss your country? |
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Son chien manque à sa mère.
Her mother misses her dog. |
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Vous manquez de patience.
You (formal) lack patience.
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Le café manque de sucre.
Coffee lacks sugar. |
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Je manque de bons outils pour le travail.
I lack the right tools for the job.
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OR 'Jacques is missing to Juliette.'
