❌📋

How to Say ‘We're missing’ in French

Il nous manque

eel noo mahnk

[eel noo mahnk]

💬 Usage Tip: French flips this around: literally "it is lacking to us", so the thing missing comes after. Il me manque un document means "I'm missing a document".

Phrase Breakdown

[eel]

it (impersonal)

Impersonal subject used with verbs like 'rester' meaning 'there is left'.

Example

Il reste du pain.

There is some bread left.

nous

[noo]

The stressed pronoun meaning 'us' or 'we' after a preposition like 'avec.'

Example

Les nouvelles recrues déjeunent souvent avec nous.

New hires often have lunch with us.

manque

[mahnk]

is missing / lacks

From 'manquer'; 'il me manque X' means 'I'm missing X'.

Example

Il manque une chaise.

There's a chair missing.

Guides for French learners

Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.Hello in French: Greetings, Good Evening and How to Answer "How Are You?"How to say hello in French, when to switch to good evening, how to ask how are you and what to answer, with tu vs vous and native audio.

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