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Верни мне, пожалуйста, мой проездной, когда вернёшься домой.

Верни мне, пожалуйста, мой проездной, когда вернёшься домой.
Please return my travel pass to me when you get home.

Breakdown of Верни мне, пожалуйста, мой проездной, когда вернёшься домой.

мой
my
мне
me
пожалуйста
please
когда
when
домой
home
проездной
the travel pass
вернуть
to pay back / to return
вернуться
to come back / to return
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Questions & Answers about Верни мне, пожалуйста, мой проездной, когда вернёшься домой.

Why are there commas in Верни мне, пожалуйста, мой проездной, когда вернёшься домой?

There are two different reasons: 1) мне, пожалуйста, — пожалуйста is a parenthetical “polite insert” (like “please”), and it’s commonly set off by commas. 2) ..., когда вернёшься домой — the comma before когда marks the start of a subordinate time clause: “when you return home.”

What exactly does верни mean grammatically?

верни is the informal singular imperative (“you, [do this]”) of the verb вернуть (perfective), meaning “return (something)” / “give back (something).”
If you were speaking formally or to more than one person, you’d use верните.

Why is мне used, and what case is it?

мне is dative case of я (“I/me”). With verbs like вернуть (“return / give back”), the person who receives something is often in the dative:

  • Верни мне X = “Give X back to me.”
What case is мой проездной here?

It’s in the accusative case because it’s the direct object of верни (“return what?”).
For an inanimate masculine noun like проездной, the accusative looks the same as the nominative:

  • мой проездной (nom.) = мой проездной (acc.)
Is проездной an adjective or a noun?

Historically it’s an adjective (“travel-related / for travel”), but here it’s used as a substantivized adjective, i.e., functioning as a noun.
проездной (masc.) commonly means a travel pass / transit pass (e.g., a monthly metro/bus pass).

Why does Russian say вернёшься (with -ся)?

вернёшься comes from вернуться = “to return (back)” (a reflexive verb).
The -ся marks that the action is “returning oneself” (i.e., “come back”). In English we don’t mark this reflexively, but Russian often does:

  • вернуть (что?) = return something
  • вернуться = return (oneself), come back
What tense is вернёшься? It looks like “you will return,” but the sentence means “when you get back.”

вернёшься is future tense of a perfective verb (вернуться). Russian commonly uses the future perfective in time clauses with когда to mean “when you get back / once you’ve returned,” even though English often uses present (“when you get back”).

Why is домой used instead of something like в доме or в дом?

домой is an adverb meaning (to) home (direction/movement). It answers “where to?”
Compare:

  • домой = (go/come) home (motion)
  • дома = at home (location)
  • в дом = into the house (into the building, not necessarily “home”)

So вернёшься домой = “(you) return home.”

Is вернуться домой redundant? Doesn’t вернуться already imply returning?

It can feel slightly “extra,” but it’s very natural. вернуться tells you “come back,” and домой specifies where you’re coming back to. Without домой, it could mean returning to some other place/context.

Can the word order be changed?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and different orders change emphasis:

  • Верни мне, пожалуйста, мой проездной... (neutral)
  • Пожалуйста, верни мне мой проездной... (emphasis on politeness at the start)
  • Мой проездной верни мне, пожалуйста... (emphasis on “my pass”)

The meaning stays basically the same.

Does пожалуйста always need commas?

Not always, but very often when it’s used like an “aside” (parenthetical) inside the sentence, it’s set off by commas:

  • Верни мне, пожалуйста, ... At the beginning, you may see a comma after it:
  • Пожалуйста, верни мне ... In very casual writing, people sometimes omit commas, but in standard punctuation they’re common here.
How do I pronounce вернёшься and what’s the deal with ё?

вернёшься is pronounced with stress on ё: ver-NYOSH-sya.
In Russian, ё is always stressed (even if it’s sometimes written as е in everyday texts). Here, it’s correctly written as ё to show pronunciation.