Aller, Venir, Retourner, Revenir, Rentrer... to go

April 2015 Lesson: Aller, Venir, Retourner, Revenir, Renter
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Aller, Venir, Retourner, Revenir, Rentrer...
to go (back), to come (back), to return
All these notions are quite difficult to understand in French because you cannot just translate them literally from
English. The choice of verb depends on the context: where you are now, where you are going, for how long, and
where home (or the place you are staying) is.
I often hear English speakers use “retourner” a lot, because it sounds so much like “to return.” But most of the time,
it is wrong. “To return” is more likely to be “revenir” or “rentrer.” “Retourner” means to go back for a limited time
(often because you forgot something there).
1- Venir (To Come HERE) And Revenir (To Come Back, To Return HERE)
This is a movement towards you, and where you are now.
• Example: Maintenant, je suis chez Paul. Pierre va venir (ici) dans une heure.
Now, I’m at Paul’s. Pierre is coming (here, towards me) in an hour.
• Example: Je pars faire des courses, mais je reviens dans 20 minutes.
I’m leaving to run errands, but I’m coming back (here, where I am now) in 20 minutes.
2 – Aller – To Go
This is a movement towards a place you are NOT now.
• Example: Je vais chez Pierre. I am going to Pierre’s.
“Aller” is very much used in French. We use it where English would often use “to visit” (use the link to see my blog
post about this), or “to attend” and in many expressions. It’s a very irregular verb – use my audio verb drills to
memorize it.
3 – Retourner (To Go Back, To Return For A Limited Time, To Run By A Place)
This means to return, or to go back, but only for a limited time, either because you have forgotten something there,
or you are returning for a certain time, but leaving again.
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T hin k Fre nch - avri l 2 0 1 5
• Example: Ce matin, je suis allée chez Pierre. J’ai oublié mon parapluie chez lui. Je vais y retourner ce soir pour
prendre mon parapluie (et puis rentrer chez moi). This morning I went to Pierre’s. I forgot my umbrella there.
I am going to go back tonight to get my umbrella – I’m going to pop by tonight to get my umbrella (and then I’ll
go home).
• Example 2 : Maintenant je suis à Paris. Demain, je pars en Angleterre. Je vais y rester une semaine (et puis je
reviendrai en France). Mais je retournerai à Londres dans 2 mois. Now, I’m in Paris. Tomorrow, I’m leaving for
England. I’ll stay a week there (then I’ll return to France). But I’ll go back to London in 2 months.
BTW: to say to return something, we use “rendre”(give something borrowed back to someone) or “rapporter”(to
return something in a shop).
• Example: Je dois rendre ce livre à Pierre. I have to return this book to Pierre.
4 – Rentrer (To Return, Go/Come Back HOME)
This means to return, to go/come back HOME or to the place where you are staying. “Rentrer” usually implies that
you are not going out again.
• Example 1: Je pars au bureau à 9 h et je rentre à 18h. I leave for the office at 9 AM and go back (home) at 6
PM.
• Example 2 : Normalement, j’habite à Paris. Maintenant je suis à Londres. Je vais aller en Italie, et puis je
rentrerai le 3 novembre. Usually I live in Paris. Now I am in London. I’m going to Italy, and I’ll go back home (to
Paris) on November 3rd.
We often also use “rentrer” instead of “entrer” to say to enter a place. It’s probably a mistake, but it’s a very
common one :-)
Contrast “Aller” And “Venir”
a) J’aime ce restaurant et je pense que je vais venir très souvent: You are talking to the owner and saying you’ll
come HERE often.
b) J’aime ce restaurant et je pense que je vais y aller souvent: You are talking to your friend about going to this
restaurant often.
Contrast “Revenir”, “Rentrer”, “Retourner”
a) Maintenant je suis chez Paul. Pierre va venir dans 1 heure (chez Paul). Moi, je vais faire des courses mais je
vais revenir dans une heure (chez Paul). Now, I’m at Paul’s. Pierre is coming in one hour (to Paul’s). I’m going to
run errands, but I’ll come back in one hour (to Paul’s).
b) Maintenant je suis chez Paul. Je vais rentrer dans une heure. Avant, je dois retourner à mon travail parce que
j’ai oublié mes clés. Now I’m at Paul’s. I’ll go back home in one hour. Before that, I have to go back to my work
because I forgot my keys there.
w w w. t h i n k f re n c h . c o m
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