Visiter vs Rendre visite


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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.

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

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 …

The French equivalents for "visitor" are a bit more complicated.