Faltar is a Spanish verb everyone needs, though it’s probably underused by non-native speakers.
Versatile and idiomatic, faltar often indicates that something or someone is absent, missing, not where they should be, needed, or in short supply:
Falta un reloj de plata del salón.
There’s a silver clock missing from the living room.
Dijo que faltaban unas 40 000 firmas.
He said some 40,000 signatures were still needed or they were still short of 40,000 signatures.
Estamos casi todos, solo falta mi marido.
Nearly everyone’s here; there’s only my husband still to come.
No tenemos toda la información; falta transparencia.
We don’t have all the information; there’s a lack of transparency.
Al iniciar el año escolar no teníamos bancos, tampoco sillas y faltaban pizarras.
At the start of the school year we didn’t have benches nor chairs and there was a lack of or there weren’t enough blackboards.
Todavía faltan pruebas.
There still isn’t enough proof.
Sobraban unos productos y faltaban otros.
There were too many of some products and too few of others.
As you can see from the above examples, the subject of the verb faltar is whatever is absent, lacking, missing, needed, or in short supply. This remains so even if you mention the people affected:
Me faltan varios documentos.
I’m missing several documents, Several documents are missing, I still need several documents.
Me falta motivación.
I lack motivation, I don’t have enough motivation, I’m short on motivation. (Literally: Motivation is lacking to me.)
¿Te faltan objetivos realistas a largo plazo?
Do you lack or Do you need realistic long-term objectives?
Le faltaba un diente.
He /She was missing a tooth.
¿Qué te falta?
What do you need?
Al automóvil le faltaban las alfombrillas.
The car was missing its mats.
No nos falta dinero.
We aren’t short of money.
No os faltan ideas.
You aren’t short of ideas.
A los granjeros les faltaba tiempo.
The farmers were short of orlacked time.
Nos faltan datos de 2020.
We lack data from 2020.
Todavía les faltan instrumentos.
They still lack or They still don’t have enough instruments.
As you can see from the above, the person or thing affected by the scarcity or absence becomes an indirect object in Spanish. So, in the present, the structure is this:
Me/Te/Le/Nos/Os/Les falta + [whatever is missing or in short supply (singular)]
Me/Te/Le/Nos/Os/Les faltan + [whatever items or people are missing or in short supply (plural)].
Sometimes this is preceded by a + noun/pronoun for clarity or emphasis:
A mi jefe le falta sentido del humor.
My boss lacks a sense of humour.
A ella le falta imaginación.
She lacks imagination.
If you’ve already got to grips with how gustar works, you may recognize the same grammar pattern at work here.
Another use of faltar is to talk about how long remains before something happens:
Faltaba una semana para el Día de San Valentín.
There was a week to go before Saint Valentine’s Day.
¿Cuánto falta para terminar la clase?
How long till the lesson ends?
Faltan pocos días para que la banda vuelva al estudio a escribir y grabar canciones.
There aren’t many days to go till the band returns to the studio to write and record songs.
The structure here is this:
Falta + [singular time expression] + para + [noun phrase or infinitive or que…]
Faltan + [plural time expression] + para + [noun phrase or infinitive or que…].
Faltar is also used about things that still need to be done:
¿Qué es lo que me falta por aprender?
What do I still need to learn?
Lo que me falta por hacer es pintar el techo.
What I still need to do is paint the ceiling.
Faltar a is used as an ordinary verb in all persons to indicate someone’s absence from a place or event:
Cristina había faltado a clases por más de una semana.
Cristina had missed school or hadn’t been to school for over a week.
Nunca falté al trabajo.
I never missed work.
The construction here is faltar (in relevant person) + a + [place/event].
Additionally, the same faltar a construction is used to indicate failure to behave as one should:
Faltó a su promesa.
He didn’t keep his promise.
Acusó al primer ministro de faltar a su palabra.
He accused the prime minister of not sticking to orof not keeping his word orof breaking his word.
Es triste cuando la gente tiene que faltar al respeto a los demás para sentirse bien consigo mismos.
It’s sad when people have to disrespect orbe rude to others to feel good about themselves.
PRACTICE
Can you complete the following using faltar in an appropriate form together with any necessary indirect pronouns?
- Lo que …………… ……………. en inteligencia, le sobra en bondad.
What he lacks in intelligence he more than makes up for in goodness. - Solo ……………. seis horas para el final.
It’s only six hours till the final. - Dice que le sobran ideas y …………… ……………. tiempo para hacer todo lo que quiere.
She says she has too many ideas and she hasn’t enough time to do everything she wants. - Nunca …………… al respeto a las demás personas.
He never disrespects others. - Horas más tarde, los chicos le preguntan a Rosa cuánto …………… para llegar.
Hours later the children ask Rosa how long it will be before they get there. - Siempre inventan excusas para …………… a clase or a la escuela.
They’re always inventing excuses to miss school. - Les pide ayuda para encontrar las llaves que …………… ……………..
She asks them for help finding her missing keys. - No …………… ……………. reglas sino la voluntad de observarlas.
We don’t lack rules; just the will to observe them. - Entre los objetos que …………… era una carpeta, que nunca se recuperó.
Among the missing objects was a folder, which was never recovered. - ¿ …………… ……………. algo?
Is there anything you need?
ANSWERS
- Lo que le falta en inteligencia, le sobra en bondad.
- Solo faltan seis horas para el final.
- Dice que le sobran ideas y le falta tiempo para hacer todo lo que quiere.
- Nunca falta al respeto a las demás personas.
- Horas más tarde, los chicos le preguntan a Rosa cuánto falta para llegar.
- Siempre inventan excusas para faltar a clase or a la escuela.
- Les pide ayuda para encontrar las llaves que le faltan.
- No nos faltan reglas sino la voluntad de observarlas.
- Entre los objetos que faltaban era una carpeta, que nunca se recuperó.
- ¿Te/Le/Os falta algo?
DID YOU KNOW?
In English we use miss for that feeling of sorrow one experiences when someone isn’t around or when one is away from something. In Spanish, a useful expression for this is echar de menos:
Echa de menos a sus abuelos y a sus amigos.
He misses his grandparents and his friends.
Te echo de menos.
I miss you.
Lo echaremos de menos, pero nunca será olvidado.
We shall miss him, but he’ll never be forgotten.
To explore more Spanish words and senses that you’ll find indispensable, come back each week.
