To miss doing something

Michelle P.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

To miss doing something

 I write a daily journal in French and was just trying to write that I miss doing something. I cannot decide whether that has to be manquer à or manquer de. I have been lacking the time to do it, which makes me think manquer de. But I have been missing doing the activity in an emotional sense. I really wish that I could do it just as I really wish that it weren't winter or that I could go back to a certain place.

Can someone help me out and tell me which one to use? Manquer à and de is  one of those things I haven't fully mastered when I was A2, I'm afraid. 

Asked 5 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Tom manque à Marie. -- Marie misses Tom.Tom manque de sucre. -- Tom lacks sugar.

So manquer à quelqu'un = missing (usually of one person by another) while manquer de means lacking of something.

Michelle P.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So the trick is, if it's a thing that is missing and I cannot replace "missing" with "lacking", it's manquer à? 

To miss doing something

 I write a daily journal in French and was just trying to write that I miss doing something. I cannot decide whether that has to be manquer à or manquer de. I have been lacking the time to do it, which makes me think manquer de. But I have been missing doing the activity in an emotional sense. I really wish that I could do it just as I really wish that it weren't winter or that I could go back to a certain place.

Can someone help me out and tell me which one to use? Manquer à and de is  one of those things I haven't fully mastered when I was A2, I'm afraid. 

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