Rendonsnous

"Rendonsnous" is a French verb phrase formed from the imperative form of the verb "rendre," meaning "to return" or "to give back," and the reflexive pronoun "nous," meaning "us" or "ourselves." In its most direct sense, the command "rendons-nous" translates to "let us surrender." It is an expression used to suggest or order a group, including the speaker, to submit to an authority, an opposing force, or to acknowledge a situation as hopeless.

This term is most commonly associated with military contexts, where a commanding officer might use it to instruct their troops to cease resistance. The use of "nous" creates a sense of shared action and collective responsibility, implying that the decision to surrender is a group undertaking. It can also be used more metaphorically in everyday language to mean "let us admit defeat" or "let us concede" in an argument or a difficult task.

The phrase should not be confused with the similar-sounding "rendons-nous à," which means "let us go to" a specific location, such as "rendons-nous à Paris" (let us go to Paris). The crucial difference is the presence of the preposition "à" following the phrase. Without it, "rendons-nous" stands alone with its primary meaning of surrender. Its usage has become less frequent in modern colloquial French but remains a recognizable and dramatic expression.