manquer

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Verb

manquer

  1. (intransitive) to lack; to be lacking in; to be short of [with de] (something)
    • 2013, Zaz & Alex Renart, Appât de velours:
      Vous manquez de patience, Monsieur le Renart ; allez donc vous coucher, car là il se fait tard.
      You lack patience, Mr Fox; so go to bed for it is getting late.
    Je manque de temps.
    I’m short of time.
    (literally, “I lack time.”)
  2. (intransitive) to miss [with à] (someone or something), literally "to be missing to someone"
    • 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.
    • 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 all of that, when you were saving face for many more than me.
    Tu me manques.
    I miss you.
    (literally, “You are missing to me.”)
  3. (intransitive) to fail in, to fail to fulfil [with à] (a duty, promise, obligation)
    Il a manqué à sa parole.
    He broke his word.
  4. (intransitive) to be lacking; to be absent; to be in short supply
    Les occasions ne manquent pas.
    Opportunities are not lacking.
  5. (intransitive) to almost do; to narrowly avoid [with de (+ infinitive)]
    Near-synonym: faillir
    Il a manqué d’être tué.
    He was almost killed.
  6. (transitive) to miss, to fail
    Synonym: rater Near-synonym: faillir
    J'ai manqué mon train.
    I missed my train.

Usage notes

  • Unlike English (“to miss”), where the person experiencing the absence is the subject, French manquer [with à] treats the absent person or thing as the grammatical subject, while the person experiencing the absence is expressed by an indirect object pronoun (e.g. me, te, lui), corresponding to à.
    Tu manques à Marie. ― Marie misses you.
    Tu lui manques. ― She misses you. (literally, “You are missing to her.”)
    Tu me manques. ― I miss you. (literally, “You are missing to me”)

Conjugation

Conjugation of manquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple manquer
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple manquant
/mɑ̃.kɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle manqué
/mɑ̃.ke/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present manque
/mɑ̃k/ 		manques
/mɑ̃k/ 		manque
/mɑ̃k/ 		manquons
/mɑ̃.kɔ̃/ 		manquez
/mɑ̃.ke/ 		manquent
/mɑ̃k/
imperfect manquais
/mɑ̃.kɛ/ 		manquais
/mɑ̃.kɛ/ 		manquait
/mɑ̃.kɛ/ 		manquions
/mɑ̃.kjɔ̃/ 		manquiez
/mɑ̃.kje/ 		manquaient
/mɑ̃.kɛ/
past historic2 manquai
/mɑ̃.ke/ 		manquas
/mɑ̃.ka/ 		manqua
/mɑ̃.ka/ 		manquâmes
/mɑ̃.kam/ 		manquâtes
/mɑ̃.kat/ 		manquèrent
/mɑ̃.kɛʁ/
future manquerai
/mɑ̃.kʁe/ 		manqueras
/mɑ̃.kʁa/ 		manquera
/mɑ̃.kʁa/ 		manquerons
/mɑ̃.kʁɔ̃/ 		manquerez
/mɑ̃.kʁe/ 		manqueront
/mɑ̃.kʁɔ̃/
conditional manquerais
/mɑ̃.kʁɛ/ 		manquerais
/mɑ̃.kʁɛ/ 		manquerait
/mɑ̃.kʁɛ/ 		manquerions
/mɑ̃.kə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		manqueriez
/mɑ̃.kə.ʁje/ 		manqueraient
/mɑ̃.kʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present manque
/mɑ̃k/ 		manques
/mɑ̃k/ 		manque
/mɑ̃k/ 		manquions
/mɑ̃.kjɔ̃/ 		manquiez
/mɑ̃.kje/ 		manquent
/mɑ̃k/
imperfect2 manquasse
/mɑ̃.kas/ 		manquasses
/mɑ̃.kas/ 		manquât
/mɑ̃.ka/ 		manquassions
/mɑ̃.ka.sjɔ̃/ 		manquassiez
/mɑ̃.ka.sje/ 		manquassent
/mɑ̃.kas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — manque
/mɑ̃k/ 		— manquons
/mɑ̃.kɔ̃/ 		manquez
/mɑ̃.ke/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
past historic → present perfect
past anterior → pluperfect
imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Synonyms

  • In the sense expressing that something almost happened, faillir is generally more common in modern French.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Dutch: mankeren
  • Haitian Creole: manke
  • → Russian: манкировать (mankirovatʹ)
  • → Esperanto: manki

See also

Further reading

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