# Đi … về: be back from in Vietnamese (A2)

> Về is coming back: home, or to where you are now. To say where someone is back from, put the place between đi and về: Chị đi chợ về.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/di-ve-return-from/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**be back from**

Pattern: `[person] + đi + [place] + về · [person] + ở + [place] + về`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: di … ve

*Về* is coming back: home, or to where you are now. To say where someone is back from, put the place between *đi* and *về*: *Chị đi chợ về.* I'm back from the market, literally "went to the market, came back".

Use *đi … về* for a trip or an errand, somewhere you went to do something: *đi làm về* (back from work), *đi học về*, *đi Đà Lạt về*. Use *ở … về* when someone was staying or living there: *Chị Lan mới ở Úc về.* Lan has just come back from Australia. *Từ … về* covers both and is just as common today: *Em mới từ Hà Nội về.*

*Mới* (just) often comes in front: *Em mới đi làm về.* I've just got back from work.

To ask, put *đâu* where the place goes: *Anh đi đâu về vậy?* Where have you been? It's also a friendly greeting to a neighbour coming home, and *Dạ, em đi chợ về* is a full answer.

In conversation, the place you're back from goes before *về*. After *về*, a place is where you're going back to: *về Hà Nội* means "go back to Hà Nội".

## Examples

- Saigon: Anh đi đâu về vậy? | Hà Nội: Anh đi đâu về thế? — Where have you been?
- Dạ, em đi chợ về. — I've just been to the market.
- Chị Lan mới ở Úc về. — Lan has just come back from Australia.
- Saigon: Mấy giờ ba đi làm về? | Hà Nội: Mấy giờ bố đi làm về? — What time does Dad get home from work?

## Compare

- [Moving in a direction: ra, vô / vào, lên, xuống, về, qua, tới](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/direction-verbs/): out / in / up / down / back / across / to
- [đi + place, no 'to': đi Hà Nội, đi chợ, đi làm](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/di-place-no-prep/): go to (no preposition)

Previous in Places and movement: [Verb + direction: chạy ra, mang về, đứng lên](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/v-direction-complement/)

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