visitée

Visitée is the feminine singular past participle of the French verb visiter, meaning “to visit.” It is used to describe something that has been visited or to form a feminine adjectival phrase relating to a visit.

Etymology and form. The verb visiter derives from Old French visiter, from Late Latin visitare, related to the notion of going to see. The base past participle is visit é; the feminine singular form is visit é e, with the final e marking the feminine, and the plural forms are visit é es (feminine) and visit és (masculine or mixed). When used with the auxiliary avoir, the participle agrees in gender and number with a preceding direct object; with avoir but a preceding feminine object, you frequently see visit é e, as in que j’ai visit é e. When the direct object follows the participle, no agreement is made (e.g., j’ai visit é la ville).

Usage. Visitée commonly appears in two contexts:

- As a participle in a passive-like construction or relative clause: La ville que j'ai visitée est ancienne. Here the preceding DO “ville” drives the agreement.

- As an adjectival modifier: une zone visitée, une destination visitée, where the noun’s gender dictates the form (feminine nouns take visitée; masculine nouns take visité).

Examples.

- La ville visitée est célèbre. (The visited city.)

- La cathédrale que j'ai visitée était magnifique. (The cathedral that I visited.)

- Des villes visitées pendant le voyage. (Visited towns during the trip.)

See also. Visiter, visite, visité (masculine form), and related phrases like rendre visite à.