Learn Hardcore Korean: beoseueseo naeryeoseo jibeuro doragasseo.

In Korean, 에서 marks the place where an action occurs. Since 내리다 (“to get off”) describes the act of leaving a vehicle, you say 버스에서 내리다 (“get off the bus”). If you used 버스에 내리다, it would literally mean “get off into the bus,” which is the opposite.

Why is it 내려서 and not 내리고 or just 내려?

Here 내려서 comes from 내리- (verb stem) + -어서 (connective ending). You use -아서/-어서 to link two actions in sequence or show a cause/result.

Stem ends in ㅣ → you choose -어서 (내리 + 어서 → 내려서)
내리고 (stem + -고) also links actions but has a more neutral “and then” feeling.

What’s the nuance of -아서/-어서 here, and how is it different from -고?

-아서/-어서 implies that the first action is directly connected—either as a cause or an immediate sequence—to the second. In this sentence, “after getting off the bus” directly leads to “went home.”
By contrast, -고 simply lists actions in order without emphasizing cause:

Neutral: 버스에서 내리고 집에 갔어.
Emphatic sequence/cause: 버스에서 내려서 집에 갔어.

Why is it 집으로 instead of 집에? Can I say 집에 돌아갔어?

집으로 uses the direction particle -으로, stressing movement toward home.

집에 돌아갔어 (with -에) is also correct and very common.
Nuance: 집으로 often feels slightly more formal or vivid when describing the route toward a destination.

What’s the difference between 돌아가다 and 돌아오다? Could I use 돌아왔어 instead?

돌아가다 = “go back/return (to a starting point).”
돌아오다 = “come back/return (to here, the speaker’s location).”
Use 돌아갔어 when narrating an action of going back. If you’re speaking from the viewpoint of someone at home (the destination), you’d say 돌아왔어: “I’ve returned (here).”

Why not just say 집에 갔어 instead of 집으로 돌아갔어?

집에 갔어 = “I went to the house/home.”
집으로 돌아갔어 = “I went back home,” emphasizing that you’re returning to a place where you’d been before. Adding 돌아- gives the nuance of “return.”

Why is the ending -갔어? How would I make this polite?

-갔어 is the informal, casual past tense (반말). To switch to polite speech (존댓말):

버스에서 내려서 집으로 돌아갔어요.
Or more formal: 버스에서 내려서 집으로 돌아갔습니다.

Why is there no subject like 나 (“I”) at the start?

Korean often drops subjects when they’re clear from context. Here, it’s obvious that the speaker is talking about themselves, so 나 isn’t needed.