Question

If you wanted to say:

I am going to visit my grandmother.

Would it be correct to say?

Je vais visiter ma grand-mere.

Answer

No! That is incorrect.

You need to use rendre visit à. Literally, this means to pay a visit.

Je vais rendre visit à ma grand-mère.

You are going to pay a visit to your grandmother.

You use visiter à to indicate you are visiting a place.

Je vais visiter La France. (I am going to visit France)

Examples

Rendre Visiter:

J'ai rendu visite à mon père. (I visited my father)

Je vais rendre visite à mon prof. (I am going to visit my teacher)

Je voudrais rendre visite à ma soeur. (I would like to visit my sister)

Visiter:

J'ai visité Londres l'année dernière. (I visited London last year)

Je vais visiter le musée. (I am going to visit the museum)

Je voudrais visiter Los Angeles. (I would like to visit Los Angeles)

À bientôt!