Qu’est-ce que te manque .. means What are you missing. Why is it te and not tu? Tx
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
Qu’est-ce que te manque .. means What are you missing. Why is it te and not tu? Tx

Bonjour Rod,
Ah, one of my favorite French verbs. Here is the lesson that covers «manquer à»:
Using manquer (à) to say you miss someone or something emotionally in French
Here is the lesson on using «plaire». I am sure there are other verbs in French that use the structure reversal but these are the two that I am most familiar with.
Basically, one states in French that «someone is missing to me» Quelqu'un me manque. when translated --> I miss (or lack) SOMEONE.
Please read over the referenced lesson above and if that does not provide clarification,
here's another link that might help:
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/manquer-lesson/
I hope you find this useful.
Bonne chance.
What would be the most helpful would be an exercise with 10-20 questions where I was asked to select between Qu'est-ce que and Qu-est-ce qui. That is really the question - will I be able to select the right one in the right situation.
Are there any focused exercises like this anywhere in Kwiziq? I heard there were but I haven't managed to find them.

Bonjour Suzanne,
While I know the grammar explanation to your question, the simplest way that I have found to remember the difference is this:
qu'est-ce que is usually followed by a noun subject
qu'est-ce qui is usually followed by a verb
While I understand this is an over-simplification, the structure in a phrase almost always is like this.
Qu’est-ce que te manque .. means What are you missing. Why is it te and not tu? Tx
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level