To come back soon

[Glen]

Should I use regresar, regresarse or devolverse?

[Rusty]

regresar o volver

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Rusty.


- Espérame aquí; regreso/vuelvo pronto.
- Creíamos que no iba a regresar/volver pronto.
- Regresaron/volvieron pronto a la casa de sus padres.


"Devolverse" is probably most used in Colombia, so I'm not really sure about how often they use it. Here's how I've seen it in telenovelas:


- ¿Entonces me devuelvo a casa? ¿Entonces (me) regreso a la casa? ¿Entonces vuelvo a casa?
- Juan se devolvió a casa en metro. Juan (se) regresó/volvió a casa en metro.
- Nos devolvimos a buscar el dinero, pero no lo encontramos. (Nos) regresamos a... Volvimos a...


The difference between "regresar" and "regresarse", I think, it's that "regresarse" is more colloquial, and makes some sort of emphasis on a kind of "determination" to go back to a place.


- Regresamos a la casa. (We just came back home)
- Nos regresamos a la casa. (We felt it was better to be home)


- Regresamos pronto de la escuela. (We came back from school early, for reasons whe didn't decide.)
- Nos regresamos pronto de la escuela. (We were supposed to be there longer, but we preferred to come back sooner than expected.)

[Glen]

Thanks to both. Good to be back with you; now if we only had the IDIOMS section back...