retourner

Inherited from Old French retorner, from re- + torner; morphologically, from re- +‎ tourner.

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.tuʁ.ne/

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retourner

1. (transitive) to turn over, turn upside-down; (in cooking) to turn

   J’ai retourné le livre pour en voir le prix.

   I turned the book over to see the price of it.

2. (transitive) to toss (salad), turn over (earth, soil)

   Retournez la salade avant de la servir.

   Toss the salad before serving it.

3. (transitive) to return, send back (an object)

   Il faut que vous retourniez le document.

   You need to return the document.

4. (intransitive) to return, go back (to/from a place)

   Quand y êtes-vous retourné(e)(s) ?

   When did you go back there?

5. (intransitive) to return, revert (à to) (a state etc)
6. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to turn over; to overturn, capsize
7. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to turn round (turn one's head)
8. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to be reversed, be turned round (of a situation etc.)
9. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to get organised

• This verb uses the auxiliary verb avoir when used transitively (or with a transitive sense, even when the complement is omitted); otherwise (when it is intransitive), it uses être.

  elle est retournée chez elle ― she went back to her house

  elle a retourné sa chaise ― she turned her chair over

• retourner sa veste
• retourner sa chemise
• se retourner dans sa tombe

• “retourner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

retourner

1. to return; to come back

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

retourner

1. Alternative form of retorner

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-rns, *-rnt are modified to rz, rt. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.