Manquer (de) + thing = To miss / lack something

In: Level A2, Idioms, Idiomatic Usage, and Structures, Préposition, Idiotisme
Questions: 36

The verb manquer is often very troublesome for English speakers of French because its structure is reversed when it applies to emotions compared to events.

Look at these sentences with the verb manquer in a pragmatic sense:

Jacques a manqué son train
Jacques missed his train

J'ai manqué l'école
I missed school

Note that to say you missed a train or school, it's very straightforward.

ATTENTION:

To express lacking [something], you will use manquer de or d' + [thing].

You do not need to use the partitive articles (du, de l', de la, des) here, just as you wouldn't say I lack the sugar but simply I lack sugar:

Je manque de sucre pour faire ce gâteau.
I lack sugar to make that cake.

Je manque d'argent pour payer mes factures 
I don't have enough money to pay my bills

Il manque toujours de courage.
He always lacks courage.

When manquer de is used with rien (I lack nothing), you need to add the negation ne in front of the verb.

Je ne manque de rien.
I lack nothing.

 

ATTENTION:

You cannot use manquer this way to miss a person (or thing) emotionally.
See Manquer (à) = To miss someone/something emotionally

 

 

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Préposition

Idiotisme

Examples and resources

Je ne manque rien.
I don't miss anything.

Je ne manque de rien.
I lack nothing.

Il manque toujours de courage.
He always lacks courage.

Je manque de sucre pour faire ce gâteau.
I lack sugar to make that cake.

to lack something

Je manque d'argent pour payer mes factures 
I don't have enough money to pay my bills

to miss an event

J'ai manqué l'école
I missed school

Jacques a manqué son train
Jacques missed his train

Q&A

Rant

Kwiziq community member

30 January 2019

1 reply

Minor english correction

Hi,

This sentence on this page, "You do not need use the partitive articles" is missing the word "to" between the "need" and "use".

Just figured since you are helping me with my french, I'd help you with the english :)

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

30 January 2019

30/01/19

Bonjour Rant !

And rightly so :) This typo has now been rectified.

Merci beaucoup et bonne journée !

Michelle

Kwiziq community member

4 January 2019

2 replies

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. 

Chris

Kwiziq community member

6 January 2019

6/01/19

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

Kwiziq community member

11 January 2019

11/01/19

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

Serian

Kwiziq community member

30 September 2018

1 reply

What is the difference between manquer and rater?

If I wanted to use the examples above about a train or a concert, what would the difference be for the two verbs? Can I use both or is one wrong? If not, what is the change in meaning?

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

1 October 2018

1/10/18

Hi Serian,

The verbs 'manquer' or 'rater' can both be used  for 'to miss a concert or a train' ,  'rater' being less formal than 'manquer'.

You would use 'rater'  only for to fail an exam e.g. 

J 'ai raté mon permis de conduire/ mon bac = I failed my driving test/my baccalaurate

or even - 

J'ai raté ma vie = I made a real hash of my life

There is another informal way to say to miss in French which you might have heard - 'louper' :

J'ai loupé le premier  épisode de cette série = I missed the first episode of this series.

Hope this helps!

Paul

Kwiziq community member

3 September 2018

2 replies

Manquer de + human attrbute ? To lack a human attrubute ?

I think what I'm about to ask is not possible with manquer de + thing, and I would like to confirm I am correct. Am I correct it is NOT possible to use manquer de + human attribute ?

Examples

I lack your warmth (in the emotional sense). Je manque de ton chaleur.

I lack your humour. Je manque de ton humour.

I have been told this doesn't really work in French, and I would be better off using avoir.

e.g Je n'ai pas ton chaleur. Je n'ai pas ton humour.

Any comments appreciated.

Paul.

Paul

Kwiziq community member

3 September 2018

3/09/18

Sorry, correction. Chaleur is fem. , so

Je manque de ta chaleur.

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

3 September 2018

3/09/18

Hi Paul,

You can use manquer de with a human attribute as in the lesson example, 

'Il manque toujours de courage.'

You could say:

"Il/je manque d'humilité , de chaleur, d'humour" about someone else or about yourself.

In the sense of to lack meaning to be without you would indeed use,

'ne pas avoir'

Cette voiture n'a pas la puissance de celle-là. = This car lacks the power of that one.

Le nouvel employé n'a pas les compétences de la personne quil remplace. = The new employee lacks the skills of the person he is replacing.

Je n'ai pas les moyens d'aller en vacances cette année. = I haven't got / I lack the means to go on holiday, this year.

Hope this helps!

 

william

Kwiziq community member

1 January 2018

3 replies

Je manque de concert . . .

The test says that "I missed the concert of . . " is ''J'ai manqué du concert . ." . In the lesson it says '''I missed the train'' is ''J'ai manqué le train'''. What is the difference between ''concert'''and ''train''? Why is one noun preceeded by '''de'' and the other not? Thx

Jim

Kwiziq community member

1 January 2018

1/01/18

This is indeed extremely tricky! The example of "J'ai manqué le train" is a form of transitive usage of the verb ie. the verb taking a direct object "le train". The example "J'ai manqué de le concert ..." is more difficult to explain -- it looks like a transitive usage indirect in the sense of "being deprived of." So without knowledge of the full sentence, it seems to me that the meaning is that something has caused the subject "j" to be "deprived of" the particular concert rather than a general sense of a concert. That's my input, but I think that it would be nice to see a further comment from an expert. Good luck, Jim

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

28 February 2018

28/02/18

Hi both,

This sounds like a typo error to me ,

I missed the concert of , should be,

j'ai manqué le concert de... 

Will pass on your comments and try to get it rectified.

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

5 March 2018

5/03/18

I have now checked and the correct answer is correctly marked as:

J'ai manqué le concert de Michael Jackson en 1992 à Paris.

Hope this helps!

stephen

Kwiziq community member

23 October 2017

1 reply

"I do not have any money money left"

Is the same as"I do not have any more money" so why put both these answers to the same question, because they are both right in English.

Chris

Kwiziq community member

24 October 2017

24/10/17

I agree, the two English sentences you cite carry the same meaning in English. I would expect that they both be counted as correct. Did you find something different? -- Chris.

Siner

Kwiziq community member

15 October 2017

5 replies

I mean for pluriels .; they ,we ,you

Ron

Kwiziq community member

15 October 2017

15/10/17

Bonjour Siner, I noticed both of your posts; however, I am unable to understand your question. manquer(de) conjugates like any other -er verb. The peculiar with this verb is this: If I want to say «I miss you» in French it becomes ---> «Tu me manques». As can be seen, manquer conjugates as expected even in the plural: «we missed you» ---> «tu nous manques» or «vous nous manquez»

Siner

Kwiziq community member

16 October 2017

16/10/17

Thank you and sorry for not being clear. My question was about the form of ; je manque le spectacle or je manque de sucre... Because on the lesson all the examples are in singulier form so I was wondering if it is a form a kind of " Il faut " just in one way. (Sorry English is not my mother langue as well so it is a bit hard to explain for me.) in the form of "we miss you" we conjugate the verb for "you " vous nous manquez " so that's why I was a little bit lost but now I can see that we should consider it as a normal way of the conjugation as" nous manquons d'argent ." I hope I can explain my self better this time but anyway I think I found the answer by trying to explain my question ;)

Chris

Kwiziq community member

16 October 2017

16/10/17

Bonjour Siner, si tu veux dire "I miss my pens" you would translate this as "je manque de mes stylos". Comme tu peux voire, le principe reste le même dans le pluriel. J'espère d'avoir pu t'aider. -- Chris. (Attention, le français n'est pas ma langue maternelle.)

Chris

Kwiziq community member

16 October 2017

16/10/17

Moi de nouveau.... "We miss our pens" c'est "Nous manquons de nos stylos." -- Chris.

Siner

Kwiziq community member

16 October 2017

16/10/17

Bonjour Chris , Le deuxième example c'est correspond à mon question ,exactement. merci

Siner

Kwiziq community member

15 October 2017

1 reply

i would like to ask if in those both situation if we congugate it.

Ron

Kwiziq community member

15 October 2017

15/10/17

Bonjour Siner, I noticed both of your posts; however, I am unable to understand your question. manquer(de) conjugates like any other -er verb. The peculiar with this verb is this: If I want to say «I miss you» in French it becomes ---> «Tu me manques». As can be seen, manquer conjugates as expected even in the plural: «we missed you» ---> «tu nous manques» or «vous nous manquez»

John

Kwiziq community member

8 August 2016

4 replies

I miss nothing?

How would you say I miss nothing? Je ne manque rien? Thanks.

Laura

Kwiziq language super star

8 August 2016

8/08/16

Bonjour John, No, you still need the preposition: Je ne manque de rien.

John

Kwiziq community member

8 August 2016

8/08/16

Hmm, so how do I know whether it means "I lack nothing" or "I miss nothing"? How come "I miss the train" doesn't require the preposition "de" but "I miss nothing" does?

Laura

Kwiziq language super star

8 August 2016

8/08/16

Perhaps I misunderstood what you were trying to say. What do you feel is the difference between "I miss nothing" and "I lack nothing"? For me, they're the same thing - I have everything I need in terms of physical objects that you possess. Missing a train or school is different - you're not physically missing them in the sense that you're unable to hold them in your hands. Rather, you were supposed to be in / on them and weren't - you missed catching / being at them. Does that make sense?

DeAnna

Kwiziq community member

17 July 2018

17/07/18

As a native USA speaker, when I hear “I miss nothing” I understand that to mean “Nothing escapes my notice... I miss no detail... nothing gets by me”.  The french phrase “Je ne manque rien” makes sense to me in this context  

However “I lack nothing” is very different and means “I have everything I need”.   Here I would use “Je ne manque de rien”

Would a french native weigh in on that please?

Joakim

Kwiziq community member

18 March 2016

3 replies

Manque de ?

I keep getting this one wrong despite having read the lesson multiple times. What property of X determines whether it's "manque X" or "manque de X"? It says manque de in the lesson, but surely l'école is "something" but does not need "de"?

Laura

Kwiziq language super star

21 March 2016

21/03/16

Bonjour Joakim, It's a question of meaning. When you mean "I miss" something (you missed the train, you missed school, you miss your plane) the noun is abstract and there's no de. When you mean "I lack" (you lack sugar, you lack money, you lack time), the noun is concrete - you are physically missing the object - you need de.

Joakim

Kwiziq community member

21 March 2016

21/03/16

Ok, that makes sense, thank you. Although in a later exercise it was "manque de patience". Isn't patience also someting abstract?

Serian

Kwiziq community member

30 September 2018

30/09/18

I think it may not be helpful to think about it in terms of concrete and abstract (and I think the examples Laura gave are not entirely accurate - trains, schools, etc are concrete nouns). Rather, stick with thinking about miss vs lack. If you are saying 'Je manque de patience', you are saying that you lack patience, rather than you missed its arrival.

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