Manque de ?

Question

I keep getting this one wrong despite having read the lesson multiple times. What property of X determines whether it's "manque X" or "manque de X"?   It says manque de  in the lesson, but surely l'école is "something" but does not need "de"?

Accepted Answer

Hi,
This is the Kwiziq sister lesson for 'to miss someone' ( manquer à) which is not the same as 'to lack something or to be short of something' where you use  manquer de -
Manquer (à) = To miss someone/something emotionally
Hope this helps!

Answer

Bonjour Joakim,

It's a question of meaning.

When you mean "I miss" something (you missed the train, you missed school, you miss your plane) the noun is abstract and there's no de.

When you mean "I lack" (you lack sugar, you lack money, you lack time), the noun is concrete - you are physically missing the object - you need de.

Answer

Ok, that makes sense, thank you.  Although in a later exercise it was "manque de patience". Isn't patience also someting abstract?

Answer

I think it may not be helpful to think about it in terms of concrete and abstract (and I think the examples Laura gave are not entirely accurate - trains, schools, etc are concrete nouns). Rather, stick with thinking about miss vs lack. If you are saying 'Je manque de patience', you are saying that you lack patience, rather than you missed its arrival.

Answer

BumpI know Laura has posted a reply to this question but tbh I just got more confused after reading that reply - eg why is ‘time’ considered something ‘physically’ lacking?