In French, you use two different verbs to express visiting someone and visiting a place.
How to say to visit someone or a place in French
Look at these sentences:
J'ai visité Paris.I visited Paris.
Il a visité le Musée d'Orsay.He visited the Museum of Orsay.
J'ai rendu visite à ma soeur.I visited / went to see my sister.
Il rend visite à ses parents.He's paying a visit to his parents.
Note that the verb visiter is used with places.
When visiting people (friends, family...), we use the expression rendre visite à [quelqu'un] and never visiter alone.
(This is similar to the English to pay a visit to [someone].)
Want to make sure your French sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »
