Volver Conjugation: Preterite & Subjunctive
‘Volver’ means ‘to come back’ or ‘to return.’ Read this lesson to see how to conjugate this common verb in the preterite and the subjunctive through familiar situations and examples.
Coming Back Home
At what time did you come back home yesterday? Did you come back by car, public transport or on foot? In daily conversation it’s quite common to talk about this with family, friends or colleagues.
To do this in Spanish you’ll need the verb volver (pronounced: bohl-BEHR), which means ‘to come back’ or ‘to return.’ In order to talk about past events, we use the preterite.
Now imagine that some of your Spanish-speaking friends have paid you a visit. It’s time for them to leave, but you want to tell them to return at any time. You could say ”I hope you come back and visit soon!” In this ‘hopeful’ case you need to use the subjunctive.
This lesson provides you with the conjugation of volver in the preterite and the present subjunctive.
Volver (to come back)
return
Preterite of Volver
The preterite is a past tense and, as in English, we use it to talk about finished actions in the past that happened once or momentarily. For example, you could say at what time you came back home last night or how you came back.
The preterite of volver is quite simple, as we keep its regular stem (volv-), to which we add the preterite endings. Check out the table below to see how to do it.
VERB: volver (bohl-BEHR) – to come back/return
Subject
Pronoun Preterite
Conjugation Pronunciation Translation
yo volví (bohl-BEE) I came back/returned
tú volviste (bohl-BEES-teh) you came back/returned
él/ella
usted volvió (bohl-BYOH) he/she came back/returned
you (formal) came back/returned
nosotros/
nosotras volvimos (bohl-BEE-mohs) we came back/returned
vosotros/
vosotras volvisteis (bohl-BEES-tays) you all came back/returned
ellos/ellas
ustedes volvieron (bohl-BYEH-rohn) they came back/returned
you all came back/returned
Note: You will only hear the form vosotros/as in Spain, when addressing a group of people in an informal situation. In the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries, native speakers use the form ustedes instead.
Examples in the Preterite
Eva went out last night with her brother and some friends. Today, her mom, like every mother, asks her lots of questions about how they came back.
Mom: ¿A qué hora volviste a casa anoche, Eva? (At what time did you come back home last night, Eva?)
Eva: No sé, creo que volví a las doce. (I don’t know, I think I came back at 12.)
Mom: ¿Y tu hermano? ¿Volvió contigo? (And your brother? Did he come back with you?)
Eva: No, creo que volvió más tarde. (No, I think he came back later.)
Mom: ¿No volvieron juntos? (Didn’t you (both) come back together?)
Eva: No, Laura y yo volvimos juntas en su coche. (No, Laura and I came back together on her car.) David y Alberto volvieron con un amigo. (David and Alberto came back with a friend.)
Translation: David came back home by car.
car
Present Subjunctive of Volver
The subjunctive is a set of verbal forms we use to express subjective information, such as wishes or hope, and to talk about possibilities.
Volver is a stem-changing verb, which means that its main vowel changes in part of its conjugation. So to form its present subjunctive, we’re going to use its irregular stem vuelv- in all forms, EXCEPT FOR nosotros/as and vosotros/as, which keep the regular stem (volv-).
VERB: volver (bohl-BEHR) – to come back/return
Subject
Pronoun Present
Subjunctive Pronunciation Translation
yo vuelva (BWEHL-bah) I come back/return
tú vuelvas (BWEHL-bahs) you come back/return
él/ella
usted vuelva (BWEHL-bah) he/she comes back/returns –
you (formal) come back/return
nosotros/
nosotras volvamos (bohl-BAH-mohs) we come back/return
vosotros/
vosotras volváis (bohl-BIYS) you all come back/return
ellos/ellas
ustedes vuelvan (BWEHL-bahn) they come back/return
you all come back/return
Uses & Examples of Volver in the Subjunctive
Expressing Wishes
Use these expressions to introduce your sentences:
Espero que (I hope that)
Quiero que (I want that)
Ojalá (Hopefully)
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