Clarification of example

Question

I don't understand how "Marie a manqué l'école" means "Marie didn't go to school". There isn't aller in the sentence so how does that work?

Accepted Answer

Hi Abi,
The expression,
Manquer l'école
is to skip school, so not to go to school is sort of the same thing...

Answer

This could be translated into English as "Marie missed school". This would then be ambiguous in English - did she physically miss it, or emotionally. In French it means only that she missed it physically, not emotionally. Translations are not always literal and direct - in this case, the French sentence is better explained by an English translation that she didn't go/get/make it to school. This is the complementary lesson:  https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/manquer-a-means-to-miss-someone-something-emotionally