How is "manqué de" being used in this sentence?

Question

"Navré, grommela-t-il au vieil homme minuscule qu'il avait manqué de faire tomber."

Online translator says: "Sorry," he mumbled to the tiny old man whom he had nearly knocked over."

How is "manqué de" being used here?

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Eva, that doesn’t look like it comes from this site ?This is being used as a synonym for ‘ avoir failli faire qqc ‘. https://www.wordreference.com/fren/faillir

Eva Noh · Answer

Maarten,Yes, it's not from this site. I stumbled on it while reading Harry Potter in French.Is it common to use "manqué de" as a synonym for ‘ avoir failli faire qqc ‘?Sorry, I'm still not fully convinced with the explanation.

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Eva,

the explanation is perfectly reasonable with the limited information given.

I use multiple sources, including, when necessary, a native French speaker who is a qualified bidirectional French-English translator.

Feel free to use others.

This is not the place to seek translations or explanations of other people’s translations of English into French.

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