Using manquer (de) to say you/something miss or lack in French

The verb manquer is often troublesome for English speakers of French because its structure is reversed when it applies to emotions as opposed to events or things.

Learn how to use manquer (de) in French

Manquer [quelque chose] = to miss [something], to fail to attend/catch

To express missing as in failing to attend or catch something (e.g., an event, a train ...), you use:

In French, you can also use the verb rater in this specific context, though it's a bit more familiar than manquer.

Manquer de [quelque chose] = to lack [something]

To express lacking [something], you use:

As you're literally saying I lack of [something], you never use partitive articles (du, de l', de la, des) here; i.e., Je manque du sucre.

Il manque [quelque chose] à [quelqu'un/quelque chose] = [Someone/something] is missing (i.e., lacking) [something]

There is also an impersonal structure to express something missing/lacking to someone or something, which works as follows: