Here is the trick:
Step 1 - modify your English sentence
The first step concerns your English sentence. You need to switch it around IN ENGLISH. When you want to say "Paul misses me", turn your sentence around; "I am being missed by Paul". Then start your French sentence with that subject pronoun : "Je manque à Paul".You miss your country = your country is being missed by you
Votre pays vous manque / Ton pays te manque.
She missed him = he was being missed by her
Il lui manquait.
His mother misses her dog = Her dog is being missed by his Mother
Son chien manque à sa mère.
Note, this doesn't sound good in French. chances are that we'd introduce a pronoun in there; son chien lui manque.
Once you do the switch, it will take care of the major problem of translation.
Step 2 - choose the correct pronoun
If you are using pronouns, the first one is going to be a subject pronoun: je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles. The second one is going to be an indirect object pronoun ; me, te, lui (for him and her and it), nous, vous, leur (them both feminine and masculine).
It will never be le, la, l' or les.
I miss you - you are being missed by me
You = either tu or vous
by me = me
Vous me manquez. Tu me manques.
You miss me - I am being missed by you
I = je
by you = either te or vous
Je vous manque. Je te manque.
If you are using nouns, translate the "by" by an à (maybe this à will contract with an article - au, aux... watch out).
The tourists miss the sun = The sun is being missed by the tourists = le soleil manque aux touristes.
Step 3 - make the verb agreement with the subject - the first noun or pronoun
I hear that mistake often: " je vous manquez". Make sure your verb agrees with the first pronoun or noun, not the one just before it...
If your verb is in the negative, the ne goes between the 2 pronouns: "je ne te manque pas".
Note
If you want to use "miss" in the idea that you didn't succeed to do something (I missed the train) it's more common to use the verb "rater" in French, but you can use "manquer" as well. For this meaning, the construction is the same as in English: "j'ai manqué (raté) le train".
We also have an impersonnal expression which uses the verb manquer: "il manque": "il manque 10 euros dans la caisse" (10 Euros are missing from the cash register).
More posts on this topic:
- Les petits mots d'amour - French love nicknames
