Go back means to return to a place where you have been before: go back home, go back to the hotel. It is also used for returning to an earlier activity: go back to sleep, go back to work after a long break. The verb shows movement away from the speaker, and this is how “go back” differs from “come back”.
Want to use go back in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
go back to + place; go back home/there; go back to + sleep/work/-ing
- I left my phone at the café, so I had to go back and get it.
- The baby woke up at five, but luckily she went back to sleep quite quickly.
- After ten years in IT, my cousin decided to go back to university and study medicine.
What changed
First versionAfter dinner we returned back to the hotel by taxi.
RevisionAfter dinner we went back to the hotel by taxi.
“Return” already means “go back”, so adding “back” after it repeats the idea. Say either “returned” or “went back”: we went back to the hotel.
“Go back” is also used about time, to stress that something started long ago. Our friendship goes back to our first year at university means “we have been friends since our first year”. And We go back a long way means “we have known each other for many years”.
Your turn
Anna and I met in London. Last month she ___ to Spain to be closer to her family, and I really miss her.
Show the answer
went back — Anna left for Spain and the speaker misses her, so the speaker is not there and she moved away from them: “went back”. “Came back” would fit if the speaker lived in Spain and Anna had returned to them.
Write about a place you would like to go back to. Say what the place is and what you would like to do there again.
I'd love to go back to Lisbon one day and walk along the river at sunset again.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.