Tu Me Manques - Say “I miss you” in French

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Here’s how to say “I miss you” in French: “Tu me manques”. Discover how to use the French verb “manquer” to tell someone that you miss them, someone else, or something! In this French lesson, you’ll learn how to build a sentence with the tricky verb “manquer”, how to say you miss someone (“tu me manques”)… and how to pick the right complement pronouns!

For this French lesson, I explain a French verb that might seem scary at first... but it’s much easier than you think! Improve your French and craft some new sentences to help you express your emotions, in this free French video lesson!

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=== More About Géraldine ===

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ABOUT GÉRALDINE

Hi! I’m Géraldine Lepère, the founder of Comme une Française (= “Like a French woman”) and your new French best friend. :)

Each Tuesday, I share a fun, fresh and bite-sized lesson on French language and French culture–from embarrassing mistakes to avoid to pop-cultural references to “get” !

For over five years now, with millions of views and students in over 56 countries, I’ve been helping people just like you gain the confidence to really talk in French. And better than the “textbook” French from high school!

[ruthdenova]

Madame Geraldine Lepere,
Your channel and teachings are brilliant and lovely.
My gratitude for your dedication as a teacher to help me accomplish my dream of learning and perhaps one day perfectionioning and speaking for myself the loveliest language of all French.

[leowigglesworth]

Here’s a little trick. Insert an imaginary comma. For example, think of “Tu me manques” as “Tu, me manques” = “You, I miss”.

Naturally, the ‘miss’ is conjugated as part of the ‘Tu’ but, at least for me, thinking of it this way helps me quickly construct a sentence forwards rather than backwards which is difficult, especially in the moment! It’s easier for me to focus on the person being missed first, then the person/people doing the missing then remembering when you get to the verb part to conjugate it as per the person being missed. I don’t know. This is easier for me because you can think forwards rather than backwards each time. Great video. Merci!

[mikeportjogger]

Excellent lesson. I got my brain round this by thinking that manquer means "to be missed by" rather than "to miss".

[juliangroves]

I like the new format, with the objective or goal clearly stated at the beginning and then some questions during the lesson. It worked for me and the questions confirmed my understanding rather than me just watching and thinking that I understood. Merci beaucoup Géraldine.

[yariarenas]

When I was first learning "tu me manques" it was really confusing then I realized it works the same way as in Spanish "(tu) me haces falta" and then it was easier. For anyone else who speaks Spanish, that might help.

Other pronoun variations still confuse me tho but it's mostly lack of practice 😁

[aliceverberne]

Could we also look at it like this... when someone says "I miss you, " use a comma, like this: You, I miss (Tu me manque). That would make logical sense in English and seems to work in all the other cases, such as They miss her... Her, they miss (Elle leur manque). Translated directly, it seems to work. What do you think? Am I missing something... would not want to steer anyone in the wrong direction. By the way, your lessons are so much fun!

[nohisocitutampoc]

Formany reason I have to quit from your videos.. and now I realise how goods they are, even for an absolute beginner like me. Maintenance, pour tout, merci bien..

[lisawhite]

Thank you so much! I finally understand this!! I was so confused when I first learned tu me manque. Thank you and merci boucoup!!!

[AnjolaoluwaAwe]

Thanks so much for your videos- they help me overcome this ‘intermediate plateau’ and get more advanced 😁 🙏🏿

[Leonardo-phvk]

Great explanation. I love your written explanations. Excellent!

[gya]

Perfect 👌 merci! You look beautiful Geraldine, enjoy your maternity 😊🎉🎊🎉🎊

[chahal.puneet]

I remember this structure as thé english you are missed by me /tu manques à moi . From there just as leo in thé commenté pointed out, just insert a pause liké you, i miss /tu me manque .

[gautamdhillon]

Excellent video. This is a tricky subject, thank you for simplifying it!

[LeeLoo_]

Thank you for ur channel. I love your videos.

[angelicalupiac]

Il me manque, mon travail! Mais bientôt après le confinement, j'espere que ca va y aller!
Je suis contente de te voir, au temps que j´ai une verre de vin rouge et aussi un peu du fromage avec pain! Merci beaucoup Geraldine pour tes tres amusant et genial videos.

[jakedoheny]

I think of "manquer" or rather "se manquer" as "to BE missed" , so that makes more sense in "Je te manque" (You (the object) are missed BY me (the subject) )

[danielpra]

For Germans it shouldn't be strange. We can say it the english way. Ich vermisse dich - I miss you. We can also say. Du fehlst mir (like) You be lacking to me. The second one is near to the french version. It means your presence i miss.

[siedemnastego]

I love your channel, its so useful 😍❤️

[raulh]

I could never say that I miss France because I've not gotten to know such the land where you speak this beautiful tongue. There may be a good chance that in the near future I will visit the cathedral of Notre Dame, that did, unfortunately, burn down. After it's reconstruction of course I may return home to "mes etas uni, " where, I will then say "ah, La belle France, tu me manques.

[johnknight]

So other than reversing the positions, conceptually "I miss you" is like "you are missing to me"?