Learn French: Nous sommes retournés à Paris.

Nous sommes retournés à Paris.

We went back to Paris.

Breakdown of Nous sommes retournés à Paris.

être

to be

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)

Paris

Questions & Answers about Nous sommes retournés à Paris.

Why do we use sommes instead of avons here?

The verb retourner (to go back) is a verb of motion. In the past tense (passé composé), most verbs use avoir (to have) as their helper verb, but a specific list of verbs showing motion or a change of state use être (to be) instead. Because of this, French literally says 'we are returned'.

Why is there an -s at the end of retournés?

When you use être as your helper verb in the past tense, the main action word (the past participle) has to match the subject. Since nous (we) is plural, we must add an -s to the end of retourné.

If a group of women says this sentence, does retournés change?

Yes! If the nous refers entirely to a group of women, you need to make the word both feminine and plural. You would add an -e for feminine and an -s for plural, making it Nous sommes retournées à Paris.

Why do we use à before Paris instead of en or au?

In French, you always use the preposition à (to or at) before the names of individual cities. You generally only use en or au for countries, states, or larger regions.