Revenir et Retourner

Question

Hello, can you explain more of the difference between "revenir" and "retourner"? I was using "Je revenais à Toulouse" and "Je retournais avec une valise" but it appears to be the opposite. Thank you.

Jim Jones · Answer

Bonjour Oanh,This type of question has been asked before  --  try this link I think it may help you.https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/revenir-vs-rentrer-vs-retournerBonne journéeJim

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Oanh,

As you note, it is the opposite to what you initially thought.

Clearly, revenir and retourner can both translate to ‘ return ‘ in English, but French is more specific, and succinct in this case than English.

It may help to think of them as the English equivalent of:

revenir - ‘ come back here ‘

retourner - ‘ go back there ‘

A native English speaker would not confuse ‘ I will come back here ‘, with ‘ I will go back there ‘ and a native French speaker will not confuse revenir and retourner either.

Of course, they can both be used in past, present or future tenses, and there are some other nuances around describing various senses of ‘ returning’ in French.

The external link below might help you further.

https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-verb-conjugation/to-return/