manquer

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian mancare, derived from manco (“maimed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

manquer

1. (indirect transitive; object marked with preposition de) to lack, to be lacking in
   • 2013, Zaz & Alex Renart, Appât de velours:

     Vous manquez de patience, Monsieur le Renart ; allez donc vous coucher, car là il se fait tard.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   Je manque de temps. ― I don't have enough time.

2. (intransitive; with indirect object represented by personal pronoun or marked with preposition à)
   1. Used as English uses to miss (to feel a sadness caused by the absence of something, distance from a place, and longing to reunite therewith) more literally meaning "to be missed by"
      • 2021, Angèle, Bruxelles, je t'aime:

        Paris m’appelle quand je veux rentrer chez moi
        Quand le ciel gris et la pluie me manquent ; je vais mieux quand j’ te vois. […]
        Bruxelles, je t’aime — Bruxelles, je t’aime ; tu m’avais manqué.

        Paris calls me when I want to go back home
        When I miss the grey sky and the rain; I feel better when I see you. […]
        Brussels, I love you – Brussels, I love you; I had missed you.

      Tu me manques.

      I miss you.

      (literally, “You are missed by me./You are lacking to me.”)

   2. to be missing or lacking to

      La sottise ne manque pas là. ― There is no lack of stupidity here.

   3. to miss out
      • 1996', Noir Désir, À ton étoile

        Ça m’a manqué, tout ça, quand tu sauvais la face à bien d’autres que moi.

        I missed out on that, all of that, when you were saving face for many more than me.

3. (transitive) to miss, to fail

   J’ai manqué mon train.

   I missed my train.

Further reading

• “manquer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.