retournais

Retournais is the first-person singular imperfect indicative form of the French verb retourner. It translates to “I was returning” or “I used to return,” depending on the context. The verb retourner itself means to go back to a place or to turn something over, and it is built from the prefix re- (back) added to tourner (to turn).

In the imperfect tense, the endings are -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient, giving forms such as je retournais, tu retournais, il/elle/on retournait, nous retournions, vous retourniez, ils/elles retournaient. The imperfect is used to describe ongoing or habitual past actions, contrasts with the completed action often expressed by a passé composé form like je suis retourné.

Usage notes:

- When used to mean “to go back to a place,” retourner expresses a return or revisiting in the past: “À cette époque, je retournais souvent à mon village natal.”

- It can also mean “to turn something over” in a physical sense: “je retournais la page” meaning I was turning the page; in passé composé this is “j’ai retourné la page.”

- In its perfect form, retourner typically uses être as the auxiliary for intransitive senses (je suis retourné(e)) and avoir for many transitive uses (j’ai retourné l’objet).

Etymology: retourner comes from the prefix re- (“back”) attached to tourner (“to turn”), yielding the sense of turning back or going back. The form retournais reflects the standard -er verb conjugation pattern in the imperfect tense.