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To visit
The French verb visiter is a cognate, so it’s common to assume that it’s a perfect equivalent for "to visit." Unfortunately, it’s not.
To Visit
Visiter means to visit a place, such as a city or monument.
Par exemple…
| Nous visitons Nice la semaine prochaine. | We’re visiting Nice next week. | |
| J’espère visiter la Corse un jour. | I hope to visit Corsica some day. | |
| Il a déjà visité le Louvre. | He has already visited the Louvre. |
Synonym: aller à
Easy enough, right? The problem is that visiter can only be used for inanimate nouns.
When visiting people, the French expression is rendre visite à.
| Nous rendons visite à notre fille à Nice. | We’re visiting our daughter in Nice. | |
| J’espère rendre visite à Michel en Corse. | I hope to visit Michel in Corsica. | |
| Il a déjà rendu visite à ses amis à Paris. | He has already visited his friends in Paris. |
Synonym: aller voir
A Visit
Likewise, there are two different nouns equivalent to "visit":
A visit to a place, a tour = une visite
| Sa visite du Louvre a duré 2 heures. | His Louvre visit lasted for 2 hours. | |
| Quelles sont les heures de visite ? | What are the visiting hours? |
A visit to a person, a stay somewhere = un séjour
| Notre séjour à Nice durera 15 jours. | Our visit to Nice will last for 15 days. | |
| Pendant le séjour chez ses amis … | During the visit to his friends … |
A Visitor
The French equivalents for "visitor" are a bit more complicated.
- une visite (always feminine) = person visiting another person
- un visiteur, une visiteuse = museum or exhibition visitor
- un invité, une invitée = home guest
- un client, une cliente = hotel guest
En résumé
| Visiting a … | ||
| Place | Person | |
| to visit | visiter aller à |
rendre visite aller voir |
| a visit | une visite | un séjour |
| a visitor | un visiteur un client |
une visite un invité |
Related lessons
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