Why we don't use "visiter + personne" in French ?

Answer 1

While we use the verb "visit" with a person or a place in English, in French we make the distinction between:

1. visiter + place/lieu (Je visite le musée du Louvre aujourd'hui.)
2. rendre visite à + personne (Je rends visite à mes grands-parents ce weekend.)

Answer 2

"Visiter" means to visit a place (city, monument, country)

For example:

Je vais visiter Toulouse cet été = I'm going to visit Toulouse this Summer.

Il a déjà visité Notre Dame de Paris = He has already visited Notre Dame of Paris.

If you want to express the idea of "to visit a person" then you need to use the French expression: "Rendre visite à".

For example:

Je vais rendre visite à mes parents ce week-end = I am going to visit my parents this weekend.

Answer 3

Using "Visiter" in french usually applies on places such as: Visiter un musée or Visiter une école. But when it comes to people or "Personne"

you can say:

je vais rendre visite à..... (Future)

je suis allée visiter -----(Past)

Answer 4

A special French friend told me that using "visiter" + a person felt like that person was literally visited ie his/her eyes, hands, feet, overall body, sort of like a tourist visiting a city but this time it was "you".

After that visual understanding, it was very easy for me to remember to "rendre visite à" une personne.

Answer 5

In addition, if you are talking about visiting a person, you can use the verb “aller” in its conjugated form, plus “voir”. For example, “Aujourd’hui, je vais voir mes parents.”

Answer 6

Just think about visiter as "to visit".

So, "Je vais visiter mes parents" - "I am going to visit my parents"

For a place, it's visiter + location

So, "j'aimerais visiter Paris" - "I would like to visit Paris"