帰る

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 夜七時に家に帰ります。▶ —
   I go home at 7 PM.
2. 韓国に帰りたいです。▶ —
   I want to return to Korea.

Collocations

Mnemonic

かえる — 帰る, Yamato. A godan -ru verb (the look-alike trap — 帰って, 帰らない, both godan). Three homophones share this sound, so the slug splits them ── kaeru-return (帰る) / kaeru-change (変える) / kaeru-frog (蛙). The kanji 帰 carries more than a plain 'go' ── 'to return to one's home base'. From outside back home, from abroad back to the home country, from anywhere back to one's own place. That difference is fixed into a small ritual of Japanese daily life ── leaving: 行ってきます (I'll go and come back). arrival: ただいま (I'm home). welcome: お帰りなさい (welcome back). Three short lines bind one person's day, and 帰る sits at their centre. Unlike the neutral 行く, 帰る always carries a direction: from outside, back to where you belong.

Quick check

1. "After work I went home" — natural Japanese?

   • 仕事が終わってから家に帰りました (correct, 帰る for home-return)
   • 家に行きました (= "went to home", neutral but less natural)
   • 家に来ました (= "came to home", odd self-statement)
   • 家になりました (= "became home", nonsense)