Devolver Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
devolver means "to return (something)" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for returning something borrowed or bought. Learning it properly means more than memorising one form: the verb changes across thirteen tenses, and this page gives you every one of them, with the exact forms from the VerbFlow engine, so you can check any person or tense in seconds. Devolver is a stem-changing -er verb (o → ue) verb, and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. That matters because the patterns on this page are the patterns you will reuse every time you speak or write. Work through the tables first, then read the notes under each tense — they explain when to use each tense and what to watch out for with this verb in particular. A natural example is: Cada día, yo devuelvo el libro a la biblioteca. — "Every day, I return the book to the library." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | devolver |
| Translation | to return (something) |
| Verb type | Stem-changing -er verb (o → ue) |
| Gerund | devolviendo |
| Past participle | devuelto |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative |
Full conjugation of devolver
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devuelvo |
| tú | devuelves |
| él / ella / Ud. | devuelve |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolvemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolvéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devuelven |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devolví |
| tú | devolviste |
| él / ella / Ud. | devolvió |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolvimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolvisteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devolvieron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devolvía |
| tú | devolvías |
| él / ella / Ud. | devolvía |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolvíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolvíais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devolvían |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devolveré |
| tú | devolverás |
| él / ella / Ud. | devolverá |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolveremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolveréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devolverán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devolvería |
| tú | devolverías |
| él / ella / Ud. | devolvería |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolveríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolveríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devolverían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devuelva |
| tú | devuelvas |
| él / ella / Ud. | devuelva |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolvamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolváis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devuelvan |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | devolviera |
| tú | devolvieras |
| él / ella / Ud. | devolviera |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolviéramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolvierais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devolvieran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he devuelto |
| tú | has devuelto |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha devuelto |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos devuelto |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis devuelto |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han devuelto |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había devuelto |
| tú | habías devuelto |
| él / ella / Ud. | había devuelto |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos devuelto |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais devuelto |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían devuelto |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré devuelto |
| tú | habrás devuelto |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá devuelto |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos devuelto |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis devuelto |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán devuelto |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría devuelto |
| tú | habrías devuelto |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría devuelto |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos devuelto |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais devuelto |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían devuelto |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | devuelve |
| él / ella / Ud. | devuelva |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolvamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolved |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devuelvan |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | devuelvas |
| él / ella / Ud. | devuelva |
| nosotros / nosotras | devolvamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | devolváis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | devuelvan |
Gerund: devolviendo · Past participle: devuelto
Devolver in every tense — notes and examples
Present indicative
The present is the tense for habits, facts and what is happening now. It is the first tense to master, because the present subjunctive and the affirmative imperative are both built from the present yo form. In the present the stem changes (o → ue) in the yo, tú, él/ella and ellos/ellas forms, but not in nosotros or vosotros — compare devuelvo with devolvemos. Example: Cada día, yo devuelvo el libro a la biblioteca. — "Every day, I return the book to the library."
Preterite
The preterite is for completed actions in the past — things that started and finished at a definite moment. Use it for a single event, a sequence of events, or an action with a clear end. Example: Ayer, yo devolví el libro a la biblioteca. — "Yesterday, I returned the book to the library."
Imperfect
The imperfect is for the past without a definite end: habits, background scenes, descriptions and actions in progress when something else happened. It never states when the action finished. Example: Antes, yo devolvía el libro a la biblioteca. — "Before, I returned the book to the library."
Future
The future is for what will happen, and also for guesses about the present ("I wonder if…"). For regular verbs it is the infinitive plus the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. Example: Mañana, yo devolveré el libro a la biblioteca. — "Tomorrow, I will return the book to the library."
Conditional
The conditional is for what would happen — polite requests, hypothetical results and reported expectations. It shares its stem with the future, so any irregular future stem appears here too. Example: Yo devolvería el libro a la biblioteca si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would return the book to the library if I had the chance."
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is for wishes, doubts, emotions and other non-facts after que, and after expressions such as ojalá, es importante que or no creo que. It is not a tense for stating facts. The present subjunctive is irregular for this verb: the yo form is devuelva, and all six persons follow from it. Example: Espero que ella devuelva el libro a la biblioteca. — "I hope she will return the book to the library."
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
The imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms) is for wishes and doubts about the past, and for the if-part of hypothetical sentences (si + imperfect subjunctive, conditional). This page shows the -ra forms from the engine. Example: Si ella devolviera el libro a la biblioteca, todo cambiaría. — "If she returned the book to the library, everything would change."
Present perfect
The present perfect (haber + past participle) is for past actions connected to the present — recent events, experience, or something that has just happened. The auxiliary is always haber. Example: Yo he devuelto el dinero a mi amigo varias veces. — "I have returned the money to my friend several times."
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (había + past participle) is the past of the past: something that had already happened before another past event. Example: Yo había devuelto el libro a la biblioteca antes de la reunión. — "I had returned the book to the library before the meeting."
Future perfect
The future perfect (habré + past participle) is for something that will already be finished by a future moment, or for a guess about the past. It is less common in speech than the simple future. Example: Para mañana, yo habré devuelto el libro a la biblioteca. — "By tomorrow, I will have returned the book to the library."
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect (habría + past participle) is for what would have happened — the past of the conditional, used for regrets and unreal past conditions. Example: Yo habría devuelto el libro a la biblioteca si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have returned the book to the library if I had had time."
Imperative — affirmative
The affirmative imperative is for direct orders, instructions and invitations. The tú form comes from the present él/ella form, and the formal, nosotros and plural forms come from the present subjunctive. The affirmative imperative is irregular for this verb: the tú form is devuelve and the formal form is devuelva. Example: ¡devuelve el libro a la biblioteca! — "Return the book to the library!"
Imperative — negative
The negative imperative (no + subjunctive) is for telling someone not to do something. All five persons come from the present subjunctive, which is why they look different from the affirmative tú form. Example: No devuelvas el libro a la biblioteca. — "Do not return the book to the library."
Example sentences with devolver
Yo devuelvo el libro a la biblioteca. — "I return the book to the library."
¿Tú devuelves el dinero a mi amigo? — "Do you return the money to my friend?"
Ayer, él devolvió el libro a la biblioteca. — "Yesterday, he returned the book to the library."
Nosotros devolvimos el dinero a mi amigo a tiempo. — "We returned the money to my friend on time."
Antes, ellos devolvían el libro a la biblioteca. — "Before, they returned the book to the library."
Mañana, yo devolveré el dinero a mi amigo. — "Tomorrow, I will return the money to my friend."
Nosotros devolveríamos el libro a la biblioteca si pudiéramos. — "We would return the book to the library if we could."
Yo he devuelto el dinero a mi amigo varias veces. — "I have returned the money to my friend several times."
Espero que ella devuelva el libro a la biblioteca. — "I hope she will return the book to the library."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy devolviendo el dinero a mi amigo. — "Right now, I am returning the money to my friend."
Common mistakes with devolver
1. Writing ✗ devolvo instead of the correct present form
The correct yo form in the present is devuelvo. Learners often build it straight from the infinitive, but this verb changes its stem or spelling in the present, so memorise the yo form — the present subjunctive and the formal imperative are built from it.
2. Confusing devolver with entregar (to deliver, to hand over)
devolver means "to return (something)", while entregar means "to deliver, to hand over". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use devolver when you mean returning something borrowed or bought, and entregar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of entregar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo devolví el libro a la biblioteca (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo devolvía el libro a la biblioteca (imperfect: what used to happen). If you can add "yesterday" or "last week", you usually want the preterite; if you can add "used to", you want the imperfect.
4. Using estar instead of haber in the perfect tenses
The present perfect is he devuelto (haber + participle), never estoy devuelto. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When devolver is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated devolver is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: devolver
1. Yo ___ el libro a la biblioteca.
a. devuelve b. devuelvo c. devuelven
2. Ella ___ el libro a la biblioteca.
a. devuelvo b. devuelve c. devuelven
3. Ayer, yo ___ el libro a la biblioteca.
a. devuelvo b. devolví c. devuelve
4. Ellos ___ el libro a la biblioteca ayer.
a. devuelvo b. devolvieron c. devuelve
5. Antes, yo ___ el libro a la biblioteca.
a. devuelvo b. devolvía c. devuelve
6. Mañana, yo ___ el libro a la biblioteca.
a. devuelvo b. devolveré c. devuelve
7. Yo ___ el libro a la biblioteca si pudiera.
a. devuelvo b. devolvería c. devuelve
8. Espero que ella ___ el libro a la biblioteca.
a. devuelvo b. devuelva c. devuelve
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ el dinero a mi amigo.
a. devuelto b. devolviendo c. devuelvo
10. Yo he ___ el dinero a mi amigo varias veces.
a. devolviendo b. devuelto c. devuelvo
Answer key
devuelvo — present tense, yo form.
devuelve — present tense, él/ella form.
devolví — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
devolvieron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
devolvía — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
devolveré — future, yo form.
devolvería — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
devuelva — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
devolviendo — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
devuelto — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about devolver
What does devolver mean in English?
Devolver means "to return (something)". It is used for returning something borrowed or bought. A simple example is yo devuelvo el libro a la biblioteca — "I return the book to the library."
Is devolver regular or irregular?
Devolver is a stem-changing -er verb (o → ue) verb, and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form devuelvo, the preterite yo form devolví and the past participle devuelto — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of devolver?
The gerund is devolviendo (used for the progressive: estoy devolviendo) and the past participle is devuelto (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he devuelto). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I return" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo devolví el libro a la biblioteca — "yesterday I returned the book to the library". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo devolvía el libro a la biblioteca — "before, I returned the book to the library". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does devolver take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Devolver on its own takes the indicative — yo devuelvo el libro a la biblioteca. You will meet the subjunctive with devolver only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is devuelva.