There are several ways to say I miss you in English. One way would be to say “I miss you” or “I miss you very much”. Another way would be to say something like “I really miss you” or even “I love you”.
However, these expressions don’t always directly translate well into other languages. For example, if we try to literally translate “I miss you” to Italian, would come up with something like “Io manca tu”. This sounds horrible and grammatically wrong in our language. So let’s see how to say it properly!
When do we say I miss you?
We mainly say it in informal language, don’t use it so much in formal relationships. It can be used to state that we are “romanticly” missing someone that is away, or for example if we are missing someone that used to help us in our work or something else.
How to say I miss you in Italian the right way
The right way to say I miss you in Italian is “Mi manchi”. The Italian Verb mancare is used “the other way around”. We say “Alberto manca a Loredana”, the literal translation would be “Alberto is missed by Loredana”, which in a less literal way would be “Loredana misses Alberto”.
The Personal pronoun “tu” (you) is missing, as normally the subject of the missing can be derived from the conjugation of the verb mancare. In this case, it’s a 2nd person, so it’s clear that who I am missing is you. The “I” becomes the indirect object pronoun “mi” (by me).
Conjugation of mancare
As we said, the conjugation of the verb helps us to understand the subject of the phrase that then can be omitted as it would become redundant.
The basic structure of the phrase is reversed, so the English translations would be a bit awkward, but the meaning is the important thing here.
Io manco – I’m missed
Tu manchi – You’re missed
Lui/lei manca – He/She’s missed
Noi manchiamo – We’re missed
Voi mancate – You’re missed (plural)
Loro mancano – They’re missed
When we use the right conjugation, we can omit the first personal pronoun and it will be implicit most of the time.
There are many phrases we can do with the verb mancare, it’s widely used in informal relationships.
How do you say I miss you too in Italian?
To answer someone saying “mi manchi” (I miss you), we can say “Mi manchi anche tu” (I miss you too) or simply “anche tu” (you too). In this example, we have to use the personal pronoun tu to explicitly declare who we are missing.
How to say I will miss you in Italian?
The future sentence “I will miss you” can be translated to “Mi mancherai”. The 2nd person conjugation of the verb mancare makes it obvious that the subject is “tu” (you).
How to say I miss you my friend in Italian?
We often don’t use “my friend” as often as English-speaking people. Normally the relationship between “I” and “you” when we say “mi manchi” is known, so we tend to avoid saying it explicitly. However, a closer translation for “I miss you my friend” is “Mi manchi amico mio”.
How do you say I miss him so much in italian?
This is another case where native speakers generally omit “him”, as the 3rd person conjugations of the verb mancare makes it implicit we are referring to a third person. So an accurate translation could be: “Mi manca così tanto”.
Other examples of italian phrases with I miss you
I miss you more.
Mi manchi di più.
I miss you very much.
Mi manchi molto.
I miss you guys.
Mi mancate ragazzi.
I miss kissing you.
Mi manca baciarti.
I miss you all.
Mi mancate tutti.
When are you coming to my house I miss you.
Quando arrivi a casa mia? Mi manchi.
I miss you already.
Già mi manchi.