In the last section covering: Il manque [quelque chose] à [qulequ’un/quelque chose/] there are two sentences that do not make use of “à”. The last one, in particular, has me stumped: “Il va manquer une chaise pour ton oncle.” What rule is this following? The impersonal examples below don’t seem to explain it.
There seem to be too many concepts under a single heading that don’t appear to apply to them all.
You need to parse the sentence a bit differently:
Il va manquer [une chaise pour ton oncle]. -- There's a chair for your uncle missing
The object that's missing is everything contained in the brackets. So it isn't really the uncle who is missing a chair, but the missing chair is being described more closely by associating it with the uncle.
Bonjour Karl,
Chris's explanation is great!
We took at this part of the lesson and we agree that it's confusing, especially the example you mention in your query. So, thanks to you, the lesson has now been amended and the changes should avoid any more ambiguity.
Merci de votre contribution et bonne journée !
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level