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Phrasal verbs

Come back: meaning, examples and practice

Come back means to return, and a memory can come back too. Learn why it is “come back home” with no “to”, how it differs from “go back”, and practise.

Come back means to return, usually to the place where the speaker or the listener is now: Come back soon! It can also mean that something returns to your memory: Her name suddenly came back to me.

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come back (from + place); come back home; come back to + place/topic; memory + comes back (to + person)

  • When are you coming back from your holiday in Spain?
  • Let's take a short break and come back to this question after lunch.
  • I hadn't spoken French for years, but it quickly came back to me in Paris.

What changed

First versionI usually come back to home at about seven.

RevisionI usually come back home at about seven.

It seems logical to put “to” before “home”, as before other places. But after verbs of movement, “home” takes no preposition: come back home, go home, get home. You do need “to” before other places: come back to the office.

Cambridge Dictionary

“Come back” describes returning here, to the speaker: Come back here! When you return to a place where the speaker is not, use “go back”: I left my keys at the gym, so I went back for them.

Your turn

Wait here, I'm just popping to the shop. I'll ___ in ten minutes.

(come back / go back)

Show the answer

come back — The person is popping out to the shop and will return here, to the one who is waiting, so “come back” is right. “Go back” would describe returning somewhere else, for example to the shop again.

Write about a trip you came back from recently. Say where you came back from and the first thing you did at home.

When I came back from Kazan last Sunday, the first thing I did at home was water my plants.

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