Manquer or rater: miss a train, fail an exam, miss someone
Compare manquer and rater with trains, exam results and shortages. Learn tu me manques through a scene, agreement table and four-question quiz.
In short
Both manquer le train and rater le train can mean “miss the train”. Use rater for an unsuccessful attempt, manquer de for a shortage and tu me manques for “I miss you”. The construction tells you which meaning you have.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
What is the difference between manquer and rater?
manquer le train / rater le trainmiss the train
Focus: not catching a departure
manquer / rater + transport
J’ai manqué le train de huit heures.
I missed the eight o’clock train.
J’ai raté le bus parce que je suis arrivé trop tard.
I missed the bus because I arrived too late.
rater un examen / rater un gâteaufail an exam / spoil a cake
Focus: an attempt that goes badly
rater + the attempt or result
J’ai passé l’examen, mais je l’ai raté.
I took the exam, but I failed it.
J’ai raté mon gâteau : il est trop sec.
My cake went wrong: it’s too dry.
For the bus example, a woman writes je suis arrivée. In the exam example, j’ai passé l’examen makes it clear that the person attended and failed. Échouer à un examen also means “fail an exam”. For a missed opportunity, either manquer une occasion or rater une occasion works.
Nous avons manqué le début du film, mais nous avons vu la fin.
We missed the beginning of the film, but we saw the end.
Rater le début du film also works. The object specifies the part missed.
What does manquer de mean?
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je manque de temps. | I’m short of time. |
| Nous manquons d’argent. | We’re short of money. |
| Nous manquons de place. | We don’t have enough space. |
| Il manque une chaise. | One chair is missing; we need another chair. |
The shortage pattern takes de, which becomes d’ before a vowel: manquer d’argent. Learn il manque une chaise as another whole pattern. Here it identifies the missing item. For feeling someone’s absence, the sentence is built differently again.
How do you say “I miss you” in French?
| French | English | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| Tu me manques. | I miss you. | tu → manques |
| Je te manque. | You miss me. | je → manque |
| Ma famille me manque. | I miss my family. | ma famille → manque |
| Mes amis me manquent. | I miss my friends. | mes amis → manquent |
| Vous nous manquez. | We miss you. | vous → manquez |
- Mère
Alors, tu es bien arrivé ?
So, did you arrive safely?
- Paul
Oui, mais j’ai raté ma correspondance à Lyon.
Yes, but I missed my connection in Lyon.
- Mère
Tu as dû attendre longtemps ?
Did you have to wait long?
- Paul
Deux heures. Et maintenant, vous me manquez déjà !
Two hours. And now I miss you all already!
- Mère
Toi aussi, tu nous manques. On t’appelle dimanche.
We miss you too. We’ll call you on Sunday.
Paul says vous me manquez to include his family. His mother answers tu nous manques: Paul is the person the family misses. The verb agrees with vous or tu, while me and nous identify who feels the absence.