Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
So, here's another nuances question: what are the differences between 返る and 帰る?
Apparently, they have different "secondary" meanings, but are they interchangeable when referring to "returns"?
Feel free to also include 戻る, although some questions already tackled the 帰る vs 戻る issue.
The difference is actually very simple. The subject of 帰る is a human or an animal, and the destination is a place where they usually belong (home, office, den, etc). In other words, you can think 帰る means "to get home" on its own most of the time. On the other hand, the subject of 返る is an inanimate object, e.g., 返事, 落とし物.
