What's the difference between visiter and rendre visite à?

Visiter is used for places: visiter Paris, visiter un musée. Rendre visite à is used for people: rendre visite à ses parents. The dividing line is whether the thing being visited can be walked round and looked at.

How do you say I'm going to visit my friends in French?

Je vais voir mes amis, which is what most people actually say. Je vais rendre visite à mes amis is correct but formal, and je vais visiter mes amis would suggest you are inspecting them.

Can you use visiter for a person at all?

Only in a narrow official sense, such as an inspector or a prison officer going round. Even there, most French speakers would prefer a more specific verb. For any ordinary social visit, avoid it.

Why is it je lui rends visite and not je la rends visite?

Because visite already occupies the direct object slot after rendre. The person can only join the sentence through à, which makes them indirect and gives you lui in the singular or leur in the plural.

What does faire visiter mean?

To show someone round. The guide becomes the subject and the guest becomes the object: il m'a fait visiter l'appartement, he showed me round the flat. It is the standard phrase when you are hosting.

French grammar · Beginner

Visiter or Rendre Visite? How to Say Visit in French

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

French splits the English verb visit in two. Visiter is for places you go round and look at — a city, a museum, a flat you are thinking of renting. People take rendre visite à, or, far more often in conversation, aller voir. Using visiter with a person is a small mistake that sounds strange rather than wrong.

J'ai visité Rome, puis j'ai rendu visite à mon oncle.

I visited Rome, then I visited my uncle.

What it is

Visiter carries the idea of inspecting a place: walking through it, looking at what is there, forming an impression. That works for a cathedral and not for a grandmother. When the object of the visit is a person, French uses a different structure entirely, in which visite is a noun rather than a verb.

Nous avons visité le château le matin et rendu visite à des amis l'après-midi. — We visited the castle in the morning and visited some friends in the afternoon.

How to spot it

Ask whether you could say look round in English. Look round the museum works, so visiter fits; look round my aunt does not, so it needs rendre visite à.

Elle visite le musée. — She's visiting the museum.
Elle rend visite à sa tante. — She's visiting her aunt.
On va voir les grands-parents dimanche. — We're seeing my grandparents on Sunday.
Je passe te voir ce soir. — I'll drop by and see you tonight.

In everyday speech, aller voir replaces rendre visite à almost entirely. Rendre visite belongs to careful or formal French.

Visit Quick Reference

Which structure for which kind of visit

What you're visiting	French	Register
a city or country	visiter Rome	neutral
a museum or monument	visiter le musée	neutral
a flat you might rent	visiter un appartement	neutral
a person, formally	rendre visite à quelqu'un	formal, written
a person, normally	aller voir quelqu'un	everyday speech
a person, briefly	passer voir quelqu'un	casual
someone's home	aller chez quelqu'un	everyday speech
showing someone round	faire visiter	neutral

Common Visit Examples in French

Visits to places, to people, and everything around them:

Visiting a Place

Nous avons visité trois musées en deux jours.: We visited three museums in two days.
Tu as déjà visité la Bretagne ?: Have you ever been to Brittany?
On visite un appartement demain.: We're viewing a flat tomorrow.
Le site se visite toute l'année.: The site is open to visitors all year.

Visiter implies going round and looking. For simply being somewhere, aller à or être à is enough: je suis allé à Rome.

Visiting a Person

Je rends visite à ma grand-mère le dimanche.: I visit my grandmother on Sundays.
Ils lui ont rendu visite à l'hôpital.: They visited him in hospital.
Nous allons voir des amis ce week-end.: We're visiting friends this weekend.
Passe me voir quand tu veux.: Come and see me whenever you like.

In rendre visite à, the person is indirect, so the pronoun is lui or leur: je lui rends visite.

Showing Someone Round

Il m'a fait visiter son atelier.: He showed me round his workshop.
Elle nous a fait visiter la vieille ville.: She showed us round the old town.
On te fera visiter demain.: We'll show you round tomorrow.

Faire visiter puts the guide in the subject slot and the person being shown round as the object.

Talking About the Visit Itself

Sa visite m'a fait plaisir.: His visit was a pleasure.
Nous avons de la visite ce soir.: We've got visitors tonight.
La visite guidée dure une heure.: The guided tour lasts an hour.
Il est en visite à Paris.: He's on a visit to Paris.

De la visite is uncountable in French: it means company or visitors in general, not one identified guest.

How the Two Structures Are Built

One is an ordinary transitive verb; the other is a noun with a verb wrapped round it, and that changes the pronouns.

Visiter Takes a Direct Object

Visiter is a regular -er verb with no preposition. The place goes straight after it, and the pronoun that replaces it is le, la or les.

Ce château, je l'ai visité l'an dernier.

That castle, I visited it last year.

visiter + place, replaced by le / la / les.

Rendre Visite Takes an Indirect Object

Here visite is the direct object of rendre, so the person can only attach with à. That makes the person indirect, and the pronoun becomes lui or leur.

Je leur rends visite chaque été.

I visit them every summer.

rendre visite à quelqu'un → lui, leur.

The Participle Rendu Never Agrees Here

Visite follows the verb and the person is indirect, so nothing precedes the participle to trigger agreement. Je lui ai rendu visite stays invariable whoever the subject is.

Elles nous ont rendu visite hier.

They visited us yesterday.

ont rendu visite, never rendue.

Aller Voir Is the Spoken Default

In conversation French rarely says rendre visite. Aller voir does the job, takes a direct object, and works for any relationship.

Je vais voir mon frère ce week-end.

I'm visiting my brother this weekend.

aller voir + person, no preposition.

Faire Visiter Reverses the Roles

Adding faire turns the visitor into the object and the host into the subject. The place being shown either follows the person or is left implied.

Je vous fais visiter la maison ?

Shall I show you round the house?

faire visiter = show round.

Common Mistakes with Visit

Incorrect: J'ai visité ma grand-mère. — I visited my grandmother.

Correct: J'ai rendu visite à ma grand-mère. — I visited my grandmother.

Visiter is for places you go round and inspect. Applied to a person it suggests an official inspection, which is not what a family visit is.

Incorrect: Je l'ai rendu visite. — I visited him.

Correct: Je lui ai rendu visite. — I visited him.

Visite is already the direct object of rendre, so the person can only be attached with à. That makes the pronoun lui, not le.

Incorrect: Elle nous a rendue visite. — She visited us.

Correct: Elle nous a rendu visite. — She visited us.

Nous is indirect here, and visite comes after the verb, so there is no preceding direct object to trigger agreement.

Incorrect: Je visite mes amis ce week-end. — I'm visiting my friends this weekend.

Correct: Je vais voir mes amis ce week-end. — I'm visiting my friends this weekend.

For people, everyday French uses aller voir. Rendre visite à is also correct but noticeably more formal than the English sentence.

The Vocabulary Around a Visit

The noun, the person, and the fixed phrases behave differently from the verbs, and some of them do not translate as visit at all.

La visite as a noun

Une visite is a countable event, but de la visite is uncountable and means company. The two readings sit side by side without confusion.

Sa visite a duré deux heures.: His visit lasted two hours.
On a de la visite ce soir.: We've got people coming tonight.
Une visite s'impose.: A visit is called for.
Les heures de visite sont l'après-midi.: Visiting hours are in the afternoon.

Avoir de la visite is the natural way to say you have guests. Avoir des visiteurs sounds administrative.

Visits that are not social

French uses visite for several appointments and inspections where English would not say visit at all.

J'ai une visite médicale lundi.: I've got a medical check-up on Monday.
La visite technique du véhicule est obligatoire.: The vehicle inspection is compulsory.
Le médecin fait ses visites le matin.: The doctor does his rounds in the morning.

Une visite de contrôle is a follow-up appointment, and it has nothing to do with sightseeing.

Visiteur, visiteuse, and touriste

Un visiteur is anyone attending a place or an event. It does not imply a holiday, which is what touriste adds.

Le musée accueille mille visiteurs par jour.: The museum welcomes a thousand visitors a day.
Les visiteurs sont priés de laisser leur sac.: Visitors are asked to leave their bags.
Le quartier est plein de touristes en août.: The area is full of tourists in August.

Visiteur applies to websites too: le nombre de visiteurs uniques, the number of unique visitors.

Visit FAQs

What's the difference between visiter and rendre visite à?: Visiter is used for places: visiter Paris, visiter un musée. Rendre visite à is used for people: rendre visite à ses parents. The dividing line is whether the thing being visited can be walked round and looked at.
How do you say I'm going to visit my friends in French?: Je vais voir mes amis, which is what most people actually say. Je vais rendre visite à mes amis is correct but formal, and je vais visiter mes amis would suggest you are inspecting them.
Can you use visiter for a person at all?: Only in a narrow official sense, such as an inspector or a prison officer going round. Even there, most French speakers would prefer a more specific verb. For any ordinary social visit, avoid it.
Why is it je lui rends visite and not je la rends visite?: Because visite already occupies the direct object slot after rendre. The person can only join the sentence through à, which makes them indirect and gives you lui in the singular or leur in the plural.
What does faire visiter mean?: To show someone round. The guide becomes the subject and the guest becomes the object: il m'a fait visiter l'appartement, he showed me round the flat. It is the standard phrase when you are hosting.