French Grammar Points – How to Use the Verb Visiter

Which French verb to use when you’re visiting a place, a friend, or a professional.

In English, we can use the verb ‘to visit’ for a place, a person, or a doctor.

However, in French, le verbe visiter is only used when a traveler is doing some sightseeing, a guided tour, or a house:

Je visite la Tour Eiffel aujourd’hui. = I’m visiting the Eiffel Tower today.

Demain, je vais visiter le vieux quartier de Bruxelles = Tomorrow I’m going to visit the old quarter of Brussels.

Vous voulez visiter la maison ? = do you want to visit the house?

So what verb is used when we’re visiting a friend or a family member?

You’ll hear the French say rendre visite (you’re really saying that you’re paying a visit to someone):

Je rends visite à mon père ce soir = I’m visiting my dad tonight.

Nous rendons visite à Carla ce week-end = we’re visiting Carla this weekend

If you wish to tell someone to come and visit you, you can say:

Venez me rendre visite!

Note that the small preposition ‘à’ has to follow after ‘rendre visite’.

And what about visiting a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, etc…?

You need to visit one of these professionals, but you cannot use visiter (you don’t want this to be a part of your holiday travel itinerary)! ????And using rendre visite à is too ‘friendly’. So, the French will simply use aller voir or just aller:

Je vais voir le dentiste demain matin = I’m going to see the dentist tomorrow morning

Je vais chez le dentiste = I’m going to the dentist

Note that if you are going to use aller only, then you’ll need to follow with chez for indicating at someone’s home or professional place.

However, if you’re visiting colleagues, your boss, or clients, it’s best to just use aller voir.

Je vais voir un client = I’m goint to see a client

Je vais voir le patron = I’m going to see the boss

You’ll hear at times the word visite used as a noun such as : “je vous souhaite une bonne visite!” (I wish you a good visit!) but again this will be in reference to a travelling related visit such as a visit of a museum.

Now I’ll give you a hint – when in doubt if you should use visiter, rendre visite or aller voir, you can always use aller voir for all the above contexts:

Je vais voir la Tour Eiffel

Je vais voir mon père ce soir

Je vais voir le docteur

Je vais voir le grand patron

Céline Anthonioz