Went and came back, back from: đi … về, ở … về

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".