manquer

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

manquer

1. (intransitive) to lack, to be lacking in [with de]
   • 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. (literally, “I lack time.”)

2. (intransitive) [with 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 missing to me.”)

   2. to be missing or lacking to

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

   3. to be missed out on, to pass by
      • 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.

4. to run the risk (of doing), to almost (do) [with de (+ infinitive)]

   Il a manqué d’être tué. ― He was almost killed.

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).

Derived terms

• fille manquée
• manquer à l’appel
• manquer à sa parole
• manquer le coche
• manquer une case
• ne pas manquer d’air
• ne pas manquer de sel
• tu me manques

Related terms

• immanquable
  • immanquablement
• manchot
• manquant
• manque
• manqué
• manquement

Descendants

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

Further reading

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