Questions & Answers about Когда ты хочешь вернуться домой?
Since the lesson is about 'при-' verbs like прийти (to arrive), why use вернуться here?
While прийти means to arrive or come to a place, вернуться specifically means to return or go back. It is a perfective verb, used here because you are talking about the single, completed result of getting back home.
Why does вернуться have the reflexive -ся ending?
The -ся ending shows that the action happens to the subject itself. The base verb вернуть means to return an object (like giving a book back to a friend). Adding -ся essentially means to return yourself, which is how Russians say to go back to a place.
Why is вернуться in the infinitive form rather than conjugated for 'you'?
It directly follows the conjugated verb хочешь (you want). Just like in English when we say want to return, the second verb in Russian stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form.
Why does the sentence use домой instead of дома for home?
This is a crucial rule for verbs of motion! Дома means being at home (a fixed location), but домой means going to home (a direction). Because returning is a motion toward your house, we must use the directional word домой.