Hacerle Falta / Carecer
 

Our city lacks affordable housing

1. Are either of these attempts below grammatically correct?

2. Can both "Hacerle Falta" and "Carecer" be used to convey "To Lack" in this sentence?

Nuestra ciudad carece de viviendas asequibles

Nuestra ciudad le hacen falta viviendas asequibles

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Answers below: :)

Thank you, AngelicadeAlquezar. That clears it up for me.

What about A nuestra ciudad le faltan viviendas asequibles?

That's correct too, Tyrn. :)


@Bobbert: I made a mistake: :duh:

A nuestra ciudad le hacen falta viviendas asequibles
* You need "a", because "hacerle falta algo a alguien" has a construction similar to "gustarle algo a alguien". What the city lacks (affordable housing) is the SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE, and the city is the Indirect Object


Sorry. :blackeye: :footinmouth:

Not just correct (le faltan), but means exactly the same thing?

That leads you to a philosophical linguistic question. Does a synonym ever mean the *exact* same thing as another synonym? :D

But to answer your question, both "le faltan" and "carecen de" mean basically the same thing. If I had to describe a difference, I think the second might sound like a slightly higher register or a little more professional.

But there are differences too. For example, if something has been stolen, you would use faltar, not carecer to describe that.

I agree with Tomísimo. Context is everything.


As a speaker, "carecer de" describes for me some sort of an inherent quality that is by definition hard to modify, while "faltar" describes more a defect that can be fixed more easily.
Yet, it will all depend on the situation where these sentences are said; it's not the same to state it as a formal complaint, a proposal or just an informal opinion. :)

AngelicadeAlquezar, There is no need to be sorry. I made the correction in my notebook.

Thanks! Very interesting.

Actually I asked about another thing: is there any difference between le hacen falta and le faltan.