Past tense of return
regular verb
The past tense of return is returned. The past participle is also returned.
Forms of return
| Base form (V1) | return /ɹɪˈtɜːn/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | returned /ɹɪˈtəːnd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | returned /ɹɪˈtəːnd/ |
| Present participle | returning /ɹɪˈtɜːnɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | returns /ɹɪˈtɜːnz/ |
Returned in a sentence
- As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully.1963, Margery Allingham, “Meeting Point”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 232
- to return an answer; to return thanks; “Do it yourself!” she returned.
- We went primrosing on Sunday and returned with a full basket.From the entry primrose
- The court returned a sentence of guilt in the first charge, but innocence in the second.From the entry sentence
- All loans from the library, whether books or audio material, must be returned within two weeks.From the entry loan
Meaning of return
- verb To come or go back (to a place or person).
- verb To go back in thought, narration, or argument.
- verb To recur; to come again.
Questions about the past tense of return
- What is the past tense of return?
- The past tense of return is returned.
- What is the past participle of return?
- The past participle of return is returned.
- Is return a regular or irregular verb?
- Return is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: return (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of return.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/return. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.