Published January 8, 2024 • Updated October 13, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Rendre meaning
Rendre is a French verb meaning “to return,” “to give back,” “to make,” and “to render.” In its reflexive form, se rendre can mean “to go to” a place, while se rendre compte means “to realize.” The meaning depends on the grammatical structure and context.
Rendre pronunciation
The IPA pronunciation of rendre is /ʁɑ̃dʁ/, which sounds approximately like “rahn-druh.”
Rendre usages
The verb rendre has many different meanings in French. The table below shows eight common ways to use it and what they mean in English.
| French usage | English meaning |
|---|---|
| rendre quelque chose | to return, give back |
| rendre + adjective | to make, drive |
| se rendre à | to go to, get to |
| se rendre chez | to go to someone’s place |
| se rendre utile | to make oneself useful |
| se rendre compte de | to realize |
| rendre | to vomit (informal) |
| rendre visite à | to visit someone |
Rendre example sentences
1 .To give back, to return
One of the most common usages of rendre is “to give back” and “to return.” The grammatical structure is rendre + object + à + recipient.
Je rends le livre à la bibliothèque.
I return the book to the library.
Martin m’a rendu les clés après avoir emprunté la voiture.
Martin return the keys to me after having borrowed the car.
2. To drive + adjective
Another usage of rendre is “to drive” or “to make” + adjective. For example:
Arrête ! Tu me rends fou !
Stop! You’re driving me crazy!
3. To get to
In the reflexive form, se rendre à + place means “to get to.”
En général, je me rends au travail en voiture.
Generally, I get to work by car.
4. To visit, to go see
The structure se rendre chez + person means “to visit” or “to go see”. Another translation is “to go to somebody’s place”. The French preposition chez means “at the house of.”
Le prof s’est rendu chez Thomas pour ses leçons.
The teacher went to Thomas’ house for the lessons.
5. Make yourself + adjective
Another usage or rendre is “make yourself.” For example:
Rends-toi utile et fais quelque chose !
Make yourself useful and do something!
6. To realize
The expression se rendre compte means “to realize.” We could easily write an entire post on this expression but here’s a quick example:
Je me rends compte de mes erreurs.
I realize my errors.
7. To vomit
Finally, one surprising usage of rendre is “to vomit”. The more formal verb for “to vomit” is vomir.
Sylvie a mangé trop vite et elle a rendu toutes ses frites.
Sylvie ate too fast and vomited all her fries.
8. To visit a person
The verb rendre is also used for “visiting people” in the construction rendre visite à + person.
Pierre rend visite à ses copains en Suisse.
Pierre is visiting his friends in Switzerland.
👉 See also: Visiter vs. rendre visite à »
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🔗 Related words and expressions
- le rendement — yield, output, efficiency
- rentable — profitable
- la restitution — return, giving back
- restituer — to return, give back
- remettre — to hand back, return
- rapporter — to bring back
- se déplacer — to travel, get around
- prendre conscience de — to become aware of
- faire une visite — to pay a visit
- se rendre — to surrender
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