When the French say, "I miss you", what they are actually saying is more like, "you are missing from me".
Tu me manques.
It seems this concept is difficult for English-speakers to grasp (unless they speak another language that has a similar construction). So English-speakers will usually try to say, "Je te manque". But that means, "You miss me." A little presumptuous!
Here's how I explain it:
Imagine you are pie and all the people you love make you whole. When one of the people you love is not there, it's like a piece of the pie is cut out. You are no longer whole. There's a piece missing from the pie. So you say to your piece of pie loved one, "you are missing from me".
Hungarians use a similar construction. They also don't say, "I miss you", but more like, "You are missing to me".
Hiányzol nekem.
Do you know any other languages that have this way of expressing that someone's absence is felt?
