The verb ‘to return’: Revenir, Retourner & Rentrer
Think of revenir as the opposite of venir “to come (here)”, so revenir is “to come back, return (here)”. We use the verb revenir when one of the speakers is where the other person will come back to.
Ex. 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.
Ex. 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.
Ex. Où est Marie? Elle est partie. Mais elle a dit qu’elle reviendrait plus tard. - Where is Marie? She left. But she says she’ll come back (here) later.
Ex. Zut ! Je dois retourner au bureau car j’y ai laissé mes clés! Je reviens tout de suite! - Darn it! I have to return to my office because I left my keys there. I’ll come right back (here)!
“Retourner” means to go back for a limited time (often because you forgot something there). You are returning for a certain time but then leaving again. None of the speakers are at the place they are talking about.
Ex. 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).
Ex. 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.
Ex. On retournera manger dans ce restaurant, c’était trop bon. - We will go back to this restaurant, it was too good.
“Rentrer” is used in the sense of going or coming back HOME or to the place where you are staying. It usually implies you are not going out again.
Ex. 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.
Ex. 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.
Ex. Cette fête est géniale mais je suis fatiguée. Je rentre à la maison. This party is great but I’m tired. I’m going (returning) home.
To say to return something, use “rendre” (give something borrowed back to someone) or “rapporter” (to return something in a shop).
Ex. Je dois rendre ce livre à Pierre. - I have to return this book to Pierre.
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.
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.
Now watch this video here to make sure you understand the differences between these verbs.
This post was put together by compiling resources from these websites (1, 2).
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