Voltar is a fully regular -ar verb meaning to return, to come back, or to go back. It is one of the first verbs of motion a learner needs, and it carries a second, very useful life as a marker of repetition: voltar a + infinitive means to do something again. This page covers the full conjugation, the directional uses with para and a, the repetition construction, and the idiom voltar atrás (to back out).
What voltar means
The first thing to settle is that voltar does not specify toward the speaker or away from the speaker on its own — it just means to return to a previous place or state. English forces a choice between come back and go back; Portuguese leaves it to context.
Já volto!
I'll be right back!
Ele voltou para casa tarde da noite.
He went/came back home late at night.
Os pássaros voltam todo inverno.
The birds come back every winter.
Conjugation — voltar is regular
Voltar follows the regular -ar pattern with no surprises: no stem changes, no spelling adjustments, regular participle (voltado). Below are the full paradigms with the Brazilian pronoun set (no vós; você / a gente take third-person-singular forms).
Present indicative (presente do indicativo)
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | volto |
| tu (regional) | voltas |
| você / ele / ela / a gente | volta |
| nós | voltamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | voltam |
Preterite (pretérito perfeito) and imperfect (pretérito imperfeito)
| Subject | Preterite | Imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voltei | voltava |
| tu | voltaste | voltavas |
| você / ele / ela | voltou | voltava |
| nós | voltamos | voltávamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | voltaram | voltavam |
As with all -ar verbs, the nós present and preterite are spelled the same (voltamos); context tells them apart.
Future and conditional (futuro do presente, futuro do pretérito)
| Subject | Future | Conditional |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voltarei | voltaria |
| tu | voltarás | voltarias |
| você / ele / ela | voltará | voltaria |
| nós | voltaremos | voltaríamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | voltarão | voltariam |
In speech, the synthetic future voltarei is largely replaced by vou voltar. The conditional voltaria stays alive for politeness and hypotheticals.
Subjunctive (presente, imperfeito, futuro)
| Subject | Present subj. | Imperfect subj. | Future subj. |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | volte | voltasse | voltar |
| tu | voltes | voltasses | voltares |
| você / ele / ela | volte | voltasse | voltar |
| nós | voltemos | voltássemos | voltarmos |
| vocês / eles / elas | voltem | voltassem | voltarem |
Quando você voltar, me avisa.
When you get back, let me know.
Imperative (imperativo) and non-finite forms
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Affirmative imperative (você) | volte |
| Affirmative imperative (vocês) | voltem |
| Negative imperative (você) | não volte |
| Infinitive | voltar |
| Personal infinitive (nós) | voltarmos |
| Gerund | voltando |
| Past participle | voltado |
Volte sempre!
Come back anytime! (standard farewell from a shop or host)
Voltar para / voltar a — returning to a place
To say where you're returning to, Brazilian Portuguese uses voltar para in everyday speech and voltar a in more formal or written registers. Both are correct; para dominates conversation.
Depois da faculdade, ele voltou para a cidade onde cresceu.
After college, he went back to the town where he grew up.
A empresa voltou a investir no mercado brasileiro.
The company returned to investing in the Brazilian market. (formal)
Be careful: voltar a + a noun phrase means return to a place/activity, but voltar a + an infinitive means something different — see the next section.
Voltar a + infinitive — to do something again
This is the construction that earns voltar a place in every learner's toolkit. Voltar a followed by an infinitive means to do something again, to resume doing it after a pause. English has no single verb for this; it uses again or go back to -ing.
Voltei a estudar depois de dez anos longe da escola.
I went back to studying after ten years away from school.
Ela voltou a fumar quando ficou estressada.
She started smoking again when she got stressed.
Não voltei a falar com ele desde a briga.
I haven't spoken to him again since the argument.
The logic: voltar keeps its core sense of returning to a prior state — only here the "place" you return to is an action you used to perform. This is why the preposition is a and the complement is an infinitive. Contrast it with começar a + infinitive, which means starting something for the first time; voltar a specifically signals resumption.
Voltar atrás — to back out, to reverse a decision
Voltar atrás is a fixed phrasal idiom meaning to back out, to go back on a decision or promise. It is figurative — nobody is physically walking backwards.
Ele prometeu ajudar, mas voltou atrás na última hora.
He promised to help, but backed out at the last minute.
Depois de assinar, não dá para voltar atrás.
Once you've signed, there's no backing out.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu voltarei o livro amanhã.
Incorrect — 'return an object to someone' is devolver, not voltar; voltar is intransitive motion.
✅ Eu vou devolver o livro amanhã. / Eu volto amanhã.
I'll return the book tomorrow. / I'll come back tomorrow.
❌ Voltei estudar no ano passado.
Incorrect — 'do again' requires the preposition a before the infinitive.
✅ Voltei a estudar no ano passado.
I went back to studying last year.
❌ Ele voltó tarde ontem.
Incorrect — Portuguese voltar is regular; there is no accent and no -ó ending (that's Spanish volvió).
✅ Ele voltou tarde ontem.
He came back late yesterday.
❌ Quando você volta, me avisa.
Acceptable for habitual return, but for a specific future event BR uses the future subjunctive.
✅ Quando você voltar, me avisa.
When you get back, let me know.
❌ Ela voltou para fumar.
Means 'she returned in order to smoke' — not 'she resumed smoking'; use voltar A for resumption.
✅ Ela voltou a fumar.
She started smoking again.
Key Takeaways
- voltar = return / come back / go back; it's intransitive — to give an object back, use devolver.
- It is a fully regular -ar verb; beware the Spanish interference (volví / volvió), which does not apply.
- voltar para (spoken) / voltar a (formal) = return to a place.
- voltar a + infinitive = do again / resume — distinct from começar a + infinitive (do for the first time).
- voltar atrás = back out of a decision.
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