Verb: manquer à

ByFast French

The French verb “manquer à” means “to miss (someone)” “Manquer” is a regular “-er” verb. In fact it has several meanings, but one of its main meanings is to miss someone, in the sense of wishing that they were here. In this construction, it is used with either “à” or a indirect object pronoun.

Examples of “manquer à”

  • Tu me manques (“I miss you,” but literally “You are missing to me”)
  • Je te manque (“You miss me,” but literally “I am missing to you”)
  • Ma famille me manque (“I miss my family,” but literally “My family is missing to me”)
  • Il lui manque (“She misses him,” but literally “He is missing to her”)
  • Elle lui manque (“He misses her,” but literally “She is missing to him”)
  • Nous leur manquons (“They miss us,” but literally “We are missing to them”)
  • Nous manquons à Mathilde (“Mathilde misses us,” but literally “We are missing to Mathilde”)
  • Marc manque à Fabienne (“Fabienne misses Marc,” but literally “Marc is missing to Fabienne”)

When you long for someone or something that is absent, you use “manquer” with either an indirect object pronoun (or COI – Complément d’Object Indirect in French), or with “à” and the name of the person or persons who are experiencing the emotion of missing someone.

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