28.28: Part 3: 27 SOME MEANING AND CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS WITH CERTAIN VERBS

27 SOME MEANING AND CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS WITH CERTAIN VERBS

27.1 Manquer

a. As a simple transitive verb, with a direct object like "the train" or "my appointment," manquer works just like "miss" in English.

J'ai manqué le train.

I missed the train.

b. When it conveys the meaning "to miss someone," manquer is like plaire (see Section 10): the person who is "missed" is the grammatical subject; the person who actively "misses" the other person is the indirect object.

Tu me manques.	I miss you.
Il manque à ses parents.	His parents miss him.

c. To express the notion that someone lacks something, the verb manquer is followed by de plus the name of the item.

Ils manquent de courage.

They don't have any courage.

27.2 "Leaving, Going (Away), and Returning"

a. Note the distinct uses of the verbs that mean "to leave."

(1) Partir (one of those verbs conjugated with être in compound tenses) means "to depart, to go away, to leave from/for." It cannot be followed by a direct object (remember, all "être" verbs are intransitive).

Jacques est parti à six heures.	James left at six o'clock.
Ils partent pour Paris dans trente minutes.	They are leaving for Paris in thirty minutes.

(2) Quitter has the sense of "to leave something/someone." It takes a direct object, which must be included.

Ils ont quitté Paris à six heures.	They left Paris at six o'clock.
Elle va quitter son ami ce matin.	She's going to leave her friend this morning.

(3) Laisser is also transitive, like quitter, but more precisely conveys the meaning of leaving something/someone "behind." most often something comparatively small or moveable.

Ils ont laissé la voiture dans le parking.	They left the car in the parking lot.
Laissez les clés sur la porte.	Leave the keys in the lock.

b. Now note the distinctions for verbs that mean "to go away" or just "to go."

(1) We've already seen that partir means "to go away/leave." S'en aller has approximately the same meaning and may be used more or less in the same contexts.

Il s'en va.	He's going away.
Il part.	He's leaving/going away.
Pourquoi es-tu partie?	Why did you leave?
Pourquoi t'en es-tu allée?	Why did you go away?

(2) The verb aller, meaning "to go," must have a complement, that is, the destination must be noted, even if only by the adverbial pronoun, y Unlike partir and s'en aller, it conveys the notion of going "someplace."

Nous allons au cinéma.	We're going to the movies.
Elle y va tous les samedis.	She goes there every Saturday.

c. Finally, let's consider the various verbs that mean "to return."

(1) Rendre means "to give back" (to return something to someone)

Rendez-moi ce livre.

Give me back that book.

(2) Rentrer fairly narrowly refers to coming or going back home.

Je vais rentrer tout de suite.	I'm going right back home.
Tu es rentré assez tard hier soir.	You came home pretty late last night.

(3) Retourner means to go back to a place; revenir means to come back from (or to) a place.

Je veux retourner à Paris.

I want to return to Paris.

(Speaker is not in Paris.)

Elle est revenue de Londres hier.

She came back from London yesterday.

(Speaker is in the city that "she" is in; not London.)

Nous revenons à Paris le 7 avril.

We get back to Paris on the 7th of April.

(Speaker is in Paris, probably giving an itinerary.)

27.3 Does the Verb Take a Direct or an Indirect Object?

There are a number of verbs in French that regularly take a direct object whereas the English equivalent takes an indirect object (or a similar prepositional construction), and vice versa. We list some of the more common examples that you are likely to see/hear or use at this level. There are more.

French takes a direct object	English takes an indirect object or a similar prepositional construction
attendre J'attends le train.	to wait for I'm waiting for the train.
chercher Il cherche son fils.	to look for He's looking for his son.
écouter Tu écoutes la radio?	to listen to Are you listening to the radio?
regarder Nous regardons une photo.	to look at We're looking at a photo.

 

French takes an indirect object or a similar prepositional construction	English takes a direct object
assister à Nous assistons au concert.	to attend We're attending the concert.
obéir à Il leur obéit.	to obey He obeys them.
répondre à Répondez à la question.	to answer Answer the question.
ressembler à Elle ressemble à sa mère.	to resemble (look like) She looks like her mother.
téléphoner à Je vais lui téléphoner.	to call (telephone) I'm going to call her.