Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.

I want to return home earlier.

Breakdown of Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.

• я: I
• хотеть: to want
• домой: home
• раньше: earlier
• вернуться: to come back

Questions & Answers about Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.

What does each word in Я хочу вернуться домой раньше literally mean?

Word by word:

• Я – I
• хочу – want
• вернуться – to return, to come back (perfective infinitive)
• домой – home in the sense to home (direction)
• раньше – earlier

So the structure is literally: I want (to) return home earlier.

Why is there no word for “to” before домой?

Russian often shows direction with special adverb-like forms instead of a separate word like “to”.

• дом – house, home (basic noun form)
• домой – to home, (going) home

So домой already includes the idea of “to”.
You don’t say к домой or в домой; you just use домой by itself:

• Я иду домой. – I’m going home.
• Мы поедем домой. – We’ll go home (by transport).

What’s the difference between дом and домой? When do I use each?

• дом – the noun home / house itself.

  • Я дома. – I’m at home.
  • У меня большой дом. – I have a big house.

• домой – a directional form meaning (to) home, used with verbs of movement.

  • Я иду домой. – I’m going home.
  • Я хочу вернуться домой. – I want to return home.

So:

• Where? – use дома (at home) or дом in cases.
• Where to? – use домой ((to) home).

What’s the difference between вернуться and возвращаться?

They are aspects of the same verb “to return / to come back”:

• вернуться – perfective, infinitive

  • Focuses on the result: the act of arriving back.
  • Used for one complete return:
    
    • Я хочу вернуться домой раньше. – I want to (successfully) get back home earlier.

• возвращаться – imperfective, infinitive

  • Focuses on the process or repeated action.
  • Used for in progress or habitual meaning:
    
    • Я обычно возвращаюсь домой поздно. – I usually come back home late.

With хочу, you normally use вернуться if you mean a specific, single future return.

Why does вернуться end in -ться? What does that mean?

The ending -ться / -ся marks a reflexive or “middle voice” verb in Russian.

• Base verb: вернуть – to return something (to give back)
• Reflexive: вернуться – literally to return oneself, i.e. to come back

In practice, you don’t think of it as literally reflexive in English; it’s just the normal verb “to come back / to return (oneself)”. Many motion verbs have this reflexive form:

• остановить – to stop something
• остановиться – to stop (oneself), come to a stop

Spoken pronunciation of -ться at the end is often close to -ца / -цца.

Can I drop я and just say Хочу вернуться домой раньше?

Yes, you can.

Russian often omits subject pronouns when the form of the verb makes the subject clear. Хочу can only be “I want”, so:

• Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.
• Хочу вернуться домой раньше.

Both are correct.
Dropping я often sounds a bit more casual or conversational, like:

• Хочу вернуться домой пораньше сегодня. – Want to go home a bit earlier today.

Can I change the word order? For example, Я хочу домой вернуться раньше or Я хочу вернуться раньше домой?

Russian word order is fairly flexible, but not all orders sound equally natural.

Most neutral and natural:

• Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.

Also possible, but with a slight change of emphasis:

• Я хочу вернуться раньше домой.
  – Emphasizes раньше slightly more. Still okay in many contexts.

Less natural or awkward:

• Я хочу домой вернуться раньше.
  – Can be said, but sounds a bit clumsy; speakers don’t usually split вернуться домой like that without a special reason.

Safe choices for learners:

• Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.
• Я хочу вернуться раньше домой. (if you really want to stress “earlier”).

What exactly does раньше mean here? Earlier than what? And what about пораньше?

раньше by itself means earlier / before. The reference point is usually understood from context:

• Earlier than usual
• Earlier than others
• Earlier than planned

So Я хочу вернуться домой раньше could mean:

• I want to get home earlier than usual,
• or …earlier than the others do, depending on the situation.

пораньше is a common, slightly softer, more colloquial form, often meaning “a bit earlier / somewhat earlier” and can sound a bit more polite or less blunt:

• Я хочу вернуться домой пораньше. – I want to go home a bit earlier.

Both раньше and пораньше are correct here.

How do I pronounce Я хочу вернуться домой раньше and where is the stress?

With stress marks:

• Я хочу́ верну́ться домо́й ра́ньше.

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):

• Я – [ja]
• хочу́ – [xɐˈt͡ɕu]
• верну́ться – [vʲɪrˈnut͡sːə] (the тсь merges to a long ц-like sound)
• домо́й – [dɐˈmoj]
• ра́ньше – [ˈranʲʂə]

Said smoothly:
[ja xɐˈt͡ɕu vʲɪrˈnut͡sːə dɐˈmoj ˈranʲʂə]

Could I use another verb instead of вернуться, like пойти or уйти? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

• вернуться домой – to return home / come back home

  • Implies you were away and are coming back.

• пойти домой – to go (on foot) home (starting to go)

  • Focus on the start of going, not on being back.

• уйти домой – to leave (for) home

  • Emphasizes leaving the current place to go home.

At work, people often say:

• Я хочу уйти домой пораньше. – I want to leave for home a bit earlier.

Your original Я хочу вернуться домой раньше sounds like:
I want to be back home earlier (than usual / than others).

Why is вернуться (perfective) used after хочу? Could I say хочу возвращаться?

With хотеть (to want), both aspects are possible, but the meaning changes:

• Я хочу вернуться домой раньше.

  • вернуться (perfective) = a single, complete act in the future.
  • I want to (successfully) get back home earlier (this time / in that situation).

• Я хочу возвращаться домой раньше.

  • возвращаться (imperfective) = habit, repeated action.
  • I want to start coming home earlier (in general / regularly).

So use вернуться for one specific return, and возвращаться for a new habit.

How could I say this more politely at work, like “I’d like to go home a bit earlier today”?

A very natural, polite version would be:

• Я бы хотел(а) уйти домой пораньше сегодня.

Notes:

• Я бы хотел (for a man) / Я бы хотела (for a woman) – I would like (more polite than я хочу).
• уйти домой – to leave for home (appropriate for leaving work).
• пораньше – a bit earlier, softens the request.
• сегодня – today.

Even more specific for work:

• Я бы хотел(а) сегодня уйти с работы пораньше. – I’d like to leave work a bit earlier today.