# rentrer / revenir / retourner



## semiller

What is the precise difference between the meaning and usage of these words?  I know that "retourner" can mean "turn over" over several other meanings.  I have read the dictionary specific meanings of these words, but that has not done much to clarify the differences.  I have a hunch that "retourner" means more like "to go back home" where one is originally from while "revenir" means more like "to come back."  Again, I'm still confused.  Merci bien!   

*Moderator note: *multiple threads merged to create this one.  
See also http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa072900.htm


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## Agnès E.

Bonjour Semiller,

Revenir = to come back to the place where the speaker or other characters are.
For instance :
Revenir chez ses parents
As retourner chez lui = the guy changed his mind and decided to go back home

Does it help you ?

Edit : if you speak German, the difference is similar as the one between "heraus" and "hinaus", "herein" and "hinein", etc.


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## semiller

I certainly appreciate your efforts, but I still don't see the difference.  Could you (or anyone else for that matter) provide some example sentences?  Merci encore!


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## LoneWuss

Consider the differences between "come back," "go back," and "return."

You could often interchange "go back" and "return."
You could often interchange "return" and "come back."
You couldn't often interchange "go back" and "come back" without changing the sentence around.

Maybe someone with French 1st language could give examples of revenir and retourner.


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## Agnès E.

Sorry...

We use the verb "venir" as you use the verb "to come", that is to say when the action is made towards the person who speaks.

Il vient chez moi demain (he's coming over tomorrow)
Viens me voir, je m'ennuie (come to visit me, I'm boring)

And "retourner" means that the person changes mind or direction from the speaker's place :

Il est retourné chez lui (he went back home => away from me, away from the place he was previously)
Elle ne retournera pas en France avant un an, elle reste aux Etats-Unis (=> she won't leave US)

Hope this is a bit better...


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## semiller

LoneWuss said:
			
		

> Consider the differences between "come back," "go back," and "return."
> 
> You could often interchange "go back" and "return."
> You could often interchange "return" and "come back."
> You couldn't often interchange "go back" and "come back" without changing the sentence around.
> 
> Maybe someone with French 1st language could give examples of revenir and retourner.



Yes, I think I'm getting it now.  I think the best way to translate "retourner" is not to use the word "to return" at all (to avoid confusion).  The best translation would be to "to go back."  Il est retourné en Belgique après  avoir passé un an aux USA."  = "He *went back * to Belgium after having spent a year in the USA."  

revenir = to come back
retourner=to go back

Merci bien de l'élaircissement!


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## Tsarina

Agnes E. said:
			
		

> Sorry...
> 
> 
> Il vient chez moi demain (he's coming over tomorrow)
> Viens me voir, je m'ennuie (come to visit me, I'm boring)
> 
> .



Mais non, Agnes, tu n'es jamais ennuyante ---certainly not in this Forum! 

If you are bored, you may well want someone to come visit you. But if you are boring, they may not want to come.


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## Murellus

Does 'Est-ce que je dois retourner/rentrer/revenir?' just mean 'Should I return (Yes or no as a response)'?

So would 'Quand est-ce je dois retourner?' mean 'When should I return?'?

Merci beaucoup


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## polgara

Should I return? = Est-ce que je devrais rentrer/revenir?
When should I return? = Quand est-ce que je devrais rentrer/revenir?


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## breizh

Yes, according to the context, you can use them three.

With "retourner", you must specify where either with the noun of the place "retourner à la maison/chez moi", or with "là-bas" or "y" when the context is evident:
"Est-ce que je dois y retourner/retourner là-bas/à la maison ?"


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## wildan1

breizh said:


> With "retourner", you must specify where either with the noun of the place "retourner à la maison/chez moi", or with "là-bas" or "y" when the context is evident:


 
to add to breizh's explanation, what is difficult for English speakers is that _retourner_ always refers to somewhere else than where you are. Otherwise you say _revenir. _We're not quite so picky in English.

_rentrer_ is specifically for going/coming back to your usual base (e.g., your home, or your home country)
Je rentre en France dans 2 semaines (j'habite en France normalement et je vais y retourner)

but,
Je reviens en France (je suis en France maintenant mais je n'y habite pas normalement. Je pars demain et je vais encore revenir dans 2 semaines)


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## pieanne

About "retourner"
I'm aware it's a bit tricky.
As was said, it's always used with a reference to the place you are going back to.
"J'ai oublié mes clés à la boucherie; il faut que j'y retourne"
"Entre midi et 1h, je suis retourné à la maison pour donner à manger au chat"
At the end of a short coffe-break: "Bon, faut que j'y retourne!" (to your PC, office, ...)
Speaking of, say, the village where you grew up "Je ne suis jamais retournée là-bas" (but this may be Belgian)


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## gerardovox

Il s'agit la difference entre revenir et rentre .....

est-ce qu'il y a une nuance differend entre celles-ci?

1. Mr A: Ou est-tu?
   Miss B: (au "mobile phone": )  Je suis  en train de  rentrer (à la maison)

2. Mr A: Ou est-tu?
   Miss B: (au "mobile phone": )  Je suis  en train de  revenir (à la maison)

merci mille fois à l'avance!


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## wildan1

gerardovox said:


> Il s'agit la difference entre revenir et rentre .....
> 
> est-ce qu'il y a une nuance differend entre celles-ci?
> 
> 1. Mr A: Ou est-tu?
> Miss B: (au "mobile phone": ) Je suis en train de rentrer (à la maison)
> 
> 2. Mr A: Ou est-tu?
> Miss B: (au "mobile phone": ) Je suis en train de revenir (à la maison)
> 
> merci mille fois à l'avance!


 
Je crois que la différence serait que 

dans no. 1 Miss B va chez elle sans aucun doute

et que dans le no. 2 il n'est pas clair qu'elle va à "la maison" ou elle habite. Selon le contexte ça pourrait être la maison (de quelqu'un d'autre) qu'elle vient de quitter et que Mr A y est.


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## pieanne

gerardovox said:


> Il s'agit la difference entre revenir et rentre .....
> 
> est-ce qu'il y a une nuance differend entre celles-ci?
> 
> 1. Mr A: Ou est-tu?
> Miss B: (au "mobile phone": ) Je suis en train de rentrer (à la maison)
> 
> 2. Mr A: Ou est-tu?
> Miss B: (au "mobile phone": ) Je suis en train de revenir (à la maison)
> 
> merci mille fois à l'avance!


 
Yes, quite so.
To me, the main difference is that in n°2, Miss B is simply going back to the place Mr A is - place she left some time before.


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## gerardovox

Could Miss B In no 2 be at her house and on her way back to her office (not  Mr A's place)

??


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## pieanne

How could she be both at her house and on her way back to the office?


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## gerardovox

pieanne said:


> How could she be both at her house and on her way back to the office?



Sorry Pieanne that was a little confusing wasn't it....
je voulait dire.....
could she be leaving from her house and on her way to the office one more time (and still use the verb "revenir"???

Comme 
Miss B: Je suis en train de revenir au bureau.
Mr A: Encore une fois? pourquoi??
Miss B: Alors, parce que il me semble que j'y ai oublié mon clé  (de la maison)


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## pieanne

She'll use "revenir" if
1) she left the office some/a short time before
2. if Mr A is at the office.

Otherwise she'll use "retourner"


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## breizh

hello gerardovox

Actually, Miss B can use "revenir" only if Mr A is in the office, and if not she'll use "retourner". 
To simplify, I'd say that this is the same problem as "to go" and "to come" : you use "coming !" to warn someone who is in the place you heading to and "I'm going back there" when heading to a place your interlocutor is not


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## lilish

Rentrer & Retourner , could they both be used in identical situations to  convey  the same sense reffering to "go back"?

Je retourne aux Etats-Unis<I go back to the United States.

Je rentre aux Eats-unis<I go  back to the United States.


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## Canard

Not quite.

Je rentre aux Etats-Unis (où j'habite)
Je retourne aux Etats-Unis (pour visiter le pays encore)


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## En passant

I agree with Canard. For me "je rentre" sounds even more like I'm going back HOME.


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## jpredman123

im in france and I keep getting corrected whenever I randomly choose one of these to express 'go back', but no one can explain why I am wrong. Can anyone offer a general idea of when to use each verb? thanks


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## Micia93

jpredman123 said:


> im in france and I keep getting corrected whenever I randomly choose one of these to express 'go back', but no one can explain why I am wrong. Can anyone offer a general idea of when to use each verb? thanks


 
hello jpredman
my attempt to help you :
rentrer (à la maison) : to come back home
rentrer (dans une pièce) : to come into
revenir (chez soi) : to go back home
revenir (sur une décision) : to make up one's mind
retourner (à un endroit) : to return to one place

native will confirm of course !


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## tilt

_- Revenir _is made from _venir_, which is _to come_. It rather means _to come back_ than _to go back_, then.
_- Rentrer _can mean both, depending on where the person you're addressing stands (the place you're going to or coming from).
_- Retourner _means _to go back_, but contrary to the other ones, it can't be used intransitively (without an object): _je rentre_ and _je reviens_ make sense, whereas _je retourne _doesn't.

Hope this helps.


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## tilt

Micia93 said:


> hello jpredman
> my attempt to help you :
> rentrer (à la maison) : to come back home
> rentrer (dans une pièce) : to come into
> revenir (chez soi) : to go back home
> revenir (sur une décision) : to make up one's mind
> retourner (à un endroit) : to return to one place
> 
> native will confirm of course !


*  rentrer (à la maison) : to come back home
 revenir (chez soi) : to go back home
* I'd swap your translations. _Revenir _is only to come back, as I mentioned above, whereas _rentrer _can mean both.

*  retourner (à un endroit) : to return to one place
* Yes (even if I would have say to return to *a* place).

* rentrer (dans une pièce) : to come into
* Also _to go into_. Bascially, it means _to re-enter_, but it's often used as _to enter_.

* revenir (sur une décision) : to make up one's mind
* I think jpredman123 only referred to these verbs when meaning _to go/come back_. This is right anyway.


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## Jeanbar

1/ Le préfixe *RE*- (dans *re-ntrer, re-venir, re-tourner*) possède le sens général de refaire une action (*again*) ou de revenir à un état antérieur (*back*).
2/ Les verbes *aller* et *venir*: *aller* s'emploie lorsqu'on *s'éloigne*du centre de phrase (_Allez-vous en!_), *venir* s'emploie lorsqu'on *s'approche* de la personne (_Venez par ici!_). Dans _Je __viens te chercher à la gare_, la personne centrale n'est pas le locuteur mais toi. 
3/ Le verbe *entrer* suppose que vous pénétriez dans un espace ou que vous fassiez un mouvement *de l'extérieur vers l'intérieur* (_Entrez, je vous en prie!_)
4/ Le verbe *re-tourner* indique une notion de *cycle*, de boucle sans fin, renforcée par le suffixe re-: _Je __retourne au parking_ _car j'ai oubli_é_ mes cl_é_s_ (idea of again + waste of time).

If you were momentarily away from a place, a state which is not your habitual place/state (idea of going in): *rentrer*: 
je *rentre* de vacances, de congés, etc.. (meaning = I was out, now I am in - the office), je *rentre* chez moi (same).

If you were momentarily away from your habitual place/state: je *retourne* me coucher (You were sleeping. Somebody woke you up but you decided to go to bed again), je *retourne* *à* mes activités (Same, idea of back to normal...), 

if you are talking of a place/a state you just left: *revenir*: je reviens de vacances (back from).

Il y a sans doute des exceptions que l'usage vous apprendra.


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## wildan1

jpredman123 said:


> im in france and I keep getting corrected whenever I randomly choose one of these to express 'go back', but no one can explain why I am wrong. Can anyone offer a general idea of when to use each verb? thanks


 
You can *only use rentrer for a place that you belong to* -- your home even if it is abroad, your town where you are living, your home country. Otherwise you use _retourner_ (go back) or _revenir_ (come back). That's the secret that trips up English-speakers, because we don't have that distinction in our own language.


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## Jeanbar

Wildan1, here is an excerpt of Joachim du Bellay to puzzle you more:

Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
Ou comme celui-là qui conquit la toison,
Et puis est *retourné*, plein d'usage et raison,
Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son âge !


I think the poet wanted to stress the roundtrip (périple) of Ulysse.


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## wildan1

Jeanbar said:


> Wildan1, here is an excerpt of Joachim du Bellay to puzzle you more:
> 
> Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
> Ou comme celui-là qui conquit la toison,
> Et puis est *retourné*, plein d'usage et raison,
> Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son âge !
> 
> 
> I think the poet wanted to stress the roundtrip (périple) of Ulysse.


 
The exception that proves the rule, as they say! Unfortunately, most of us don't speak as eloquently or poetically as du Bellay.


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## Jeanbar

Wildan1,

Heureusement que la langue offre une certaine souplesse, sinon nous parlerions une langue fade, standardisée.

La règle que vous mentionniez est parfaite et vivent les poètes et la poésie !


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## alison goodier

je viens de rentrer de la France/de mes vacances
I am unsure which verb for return is the best in this context rentrer revenir ou retourner


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## yvo

you could use the 3 verbs
"je reviens de mes vacances en France" is the most common sentence, it s what we should say most of time. But the other are very nice too.


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## bpipoly

It would be helpful to know exactly what you are trying to say. 

If you want to say you are returning from France, then I would suggest

Je viens de revenir de la France ou de mes vacances. 

If you start in coming back to France, then I would suggest

Je viens de retourner à la France.


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## cropje_jnr

[...]

P.S. Bpipoly, I would say "_je viens de retourner/rentrer *en* France_" - but I'm afraid I don't know if that's because it just sounds better to me or because it's more correct - this is the kind of thing I should have studied somewhere along the line but instead just picked up in a haphazard fashion, I think.


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## yvo

"je reviens de vacances en France" its ok
"je retourne de mes vacances en France" it s ok
"je rentre de vacance en France" shouldn 't run because we understand you come back in France and not from France.
it's better to say "je rentre de mes vacances françaises"


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## b1947420

http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa072900.htm

This link will sort the problem out for you once and for all!


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## meat pies!!

qu'est ce que le difference entre le verbe 'revenir' et 'retourner'

merci


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## Callysto

meaning is close, and we would understand anyway, but we use it this way :

1) when speaking of oneself
"revenir" from somewhere
"retourner" somewhere

examples : je reviens de loin 
Je retourne là-bas

2) when speaking of someone else : you only use "revenir"
"when is he returning ?" => "quand revient-il ?"


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## valo__fan

In Word Reference Language Forums dictionary ;
Retourner:turn down/move back(additional translations)
Revenir:come back , come from behind/return , revert(additional translations)


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## Callysto

actually I was thinking that when speaking of someone else, you can sometimes use "retourner"

Example : 
Quand retourne-t-il en France ? (1)
Quand revient-il en France ? (2)

(1) the speaker is not likely to be in France.
(2) the speaker is likely to be in France

These are not rules, it's only a feeling that "revenir" is closer to "coming back" whereas "retourner" is closer to "coming again"... yet it is not strictly the case, and sometimes you can use both.

Hope I wasn't too confusing...


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## Esteban451

Callysto's right.

And when speaking of oneself, if you use " revenir ", you probably live where you want to come back, if you use " retourner ", you most likely think of a travel.

1 : Je reviens bientôt en France ==> You live in France, you consider France as your country and home.
2 : Je retourne bientôt en France ==> You live somewhere else, and wish to go to France on a trip.

But Callysto is right : if you use one for the other, it is still perfectly understandable. These " rules " are more important if you write.


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## Suehil

Could we then say that 'retourner' is 'to go back' and 'revenir', 'to come back'?


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## Callysto

I think so


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## a.d.a.m

I am a bit confused about using "rentrer" and "retourner". What is the difference between those two? When one should use "rentrer" rather then "retourner"? My dictionary translates both words into _return_ like _return from a long trip _or _return to the old idea._


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## sholby

Actually, that would be _revenir_ and _retourner_, in that order, in your examples.

Empirically:

return from = revenir de
return to (a physical place) = rentrer à
return to (something spiritual) = retourner à

But there are probably counter-examples...


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## ZONGO

"Rentrer à" implies that you are going back to a place where you belong (your country or your home) whereas "retourner à" is more general. For example you could either say "je suis rentré à la maison" ou "je suis retourné à la maison" but if you were talking about school, you could only say "je suis retourné à l'école".


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## FannyB

Off the top of my head, the main difference between the two is that _rentrer_ implies the fact of coming back home and _retourner _means to go back to a particular place. Examples are always best:
_Il est rentré _(in the sense he's home from work)
_Rentrez chez vous _(go home)
but as rentrer is often used in place of entrer (juste like réveiller has come to replace éveiller) you could say to a stranger _rentrez un instant_ (you'd better come in) so it* is* confusing.
_retourner _is less tricky I think, in that you can only use it with a destination:
_Je ne retournerai jamais à Venise_ (Venice is not my hometown and I'll never go back there - in this case you couldn't say je ne rentrerai jamais à Venise)
I'm sure there are exceptions (you can sometimes hear _retournez chez vous_  ) but hope that helps.


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## JazzyJazz16

Salut tout le monde,

Could someone explain the difference between revenir, rentrer and retourner?  I can't seem to get my head around it.  They all mean "come/go back to" or "return", but when do you use them?
For example
"We went back home", do you say     
     "nous sommes revenus chez nous"
                                          or      "nous sommes rentrés chez nous"
                                          or      "nous sommes retournés chez nous" ?

Merci d'avance


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## clotilde007

Aïe aïe aïe ! En effet, c'est compliqué.

Si tu es *revenu* chez toi, cela peut sous-entendre que tu n'y resteras que peu de temps, que tu vas repartir bientôt, ou que tu es parti de chez toi peu de temps.

Si tu es *retourné* chez chez toi, c'est par exemple pour aller y chercher quelque chose que tu as oublié. Encore une fois, tu ne restes pas chez toi.

En revanche, si tu *rentres* chez toi, tu n'en ressors pas tout de suite, c'est définitif.

Nous disons la plupart du temps "je rentre chez moi"

Hope it helps!


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## Fallingyuki

Are all three verbs interchangeable as after looking them up they don't seem too different. 

thanks


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## Michelvar

not at all, 
retourner = to turn over
revenir = to brown
rentrer = to raise

context is everything


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## Dweena

*retourner*: to go back (somewhere)
for example: retourner au magasin = go back to the store
Also to return something (in a store): retourner un article
*revenir*: venir a nouveau
Revenez nous voir bientot! Come and see us again soon.
*rentrer*: to go back (home) -> rentrer chez soi


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## Seeda

Basically, _retourner quelque part_ means 'to *go* back somewhere' whereas _revenir quelque part_ means 'to *come* back somewhere'. I say basically.

_Mon correspondant américain *retourne* à New York dans deux jours mais il *revient* en France l'an prochain_.

_Rentrer_ = _entrer à nouveau_
It's often used of your home: _rentrer chez soi / à la maison_.

_Mon correspondant américain rentre/retourne chez lui à New York..._


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