How to Say to Return in French

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Updated on February 21, 2020

The English verb "to return" has seven (7!) French equivalents: retourner, revenir, rentrer,rendre, rembourser, rapporter, and renvoyer. Of course, this leads to confusion on the part of French students, which I am about to clear up forever.

By ThoughtCo Team

There are many French equivalents because the English verb is very general and can mean different things - to return to a place, to return an item to the store, etc. The French verbs are much more precise, so in order to use the correct one, you need to figure out exactly what you want to say.

The first thing to do is decide whether the verb is transitive (requires a direct object [either stated or implied] to complete its meaning) or intransitive (cannot have a direct object).

Here are the seven French equivalents of "return." Click transitive or intransitive for detailed explanations and examples of those verbs.

Intransitive		Transitive
retourner	to go back	rendre	to give something back
revenir	to come back	rembourser	to return money
rentrer	to come or go home	rapporter	to return s.t. to a store
		renvoyer, retourner	to send s.t. back

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Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Say to Return in French." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/how-to-say-return-in-french-4084862. Team, ThoughtCo. (2021, December 6). How to Say to Return in French. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-say-return-in-french-4084862 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Say to Return in French." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-say-return-in-french-4084862 (accessed April 23, 2024).