Spanish word

tornar

Pronunciation

IPA/toɾˈnaɾ/

Meaning

  • verbcome back

Example

Después de la pausa, ella tornó a su asiento.

After the break, she came back to her seat.

Illustration for tornar (come back)

More examples

Tras las vacaciones, ella tornó a la rutina diaria.

After the holidays, she resumed her daily routine.

Core concept

A person stepping back into a room.

Common phrases

  • tornar a la calma

    regain calm

  • tornar a la rutina

    resume routine

  • tornar a vivir

    resume living

Similar words

volver: Return to a previous place or state, common in everyday spoken use.
regresar: Move back toward a former location, stressing the physical act of returning.
retornar: Return to a previous place or state, more typical of formal or written language.

Definition in Spanish

Volver al punto de partida físico o a un estado anterior, o poner algo otra vez en ese estado.

Word origin

From Latin tornare 'to turn', Spanish tornar keeps a turning-back sense and comes to mean returning to a place or restoring something to an earlier state.

Usage tips

  • Tornar appears both without an object for someone coming back and with an object for putting something back, while volver is more common for 'come back' in everyday speech.

Other meanings

  • returnverb

Opposites

Related words

  • tornadacoming backnoun
  • tornarseturn intoverb

Word lists with this word