"Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer"
Hi. I was looking up random French words on google, and apparently the above is the name of a song. I was trying to work out what it meant, and it read to me as "If only I could miss him."

However, I looked up the actual translation and apparently it is 'If only he could/would miss me." Can someone explain this? I don't understand since it is 'je pouvais'.

Question

"Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer"
Hi. I was looking up random French words on google, and apparently the above is the name of a song. I was trying to work out what it meant, and it read to me as "If only I could miss him."

However, I looked up the actual translation and apparently it is 'If only he could/would miss me." Can someone explain this? I don't understand since it is 'je pouvais'.

Answer

"It's not the simple translation of "to miss someone" which we normally get."

Yes it is!
So, we'll say: If only he could miss me.
(I'd like him to miss me, I'd like him to think of me when i'm far from him...)

Answer

Hi porridge,

Yes I had to get my head around this also, it's swapped around in Italian too.  The best explanation I found was that the verb "se manquer" is more like "to cause someone to yearn".  It's not the simple translation of "to miss someone" which we normally get.

So the song title might be better translated as "If only I could cause him to yearn for me".  Bit of a mouthful. ;)

Tu me manques = I miss you ("you cause me to yearn for you")
Je te manque = You miss me ("I cause you to yearn for me")
Est-ce que je te manque? = Do you miss me?

Answer

If only he could miss me

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