regresar vs. volver vs. devolver

Question

What are some of the times when you might use one of these words vs. another.

When I find myself speaking, I think I always use "regresar".

Some examples I know:

On TV before going on commercial break, the announcer says: "regresamos" "regresame mi dinero, por favor". On a airplane reservation, the return trip is the "regreso".

When would / should the other words be used? Examples?

Answer 1

Devolver is like returning something you borrowed or something you bought for the money you payed.

And Volver and regresar almost mean the same. You can check these links. Link1 Link2

As is seeming to be frequently the case, sitting next to my Spanish/Peruvian colleague is freaking out my Mexican Spanish. - petersenkid2, Jul 13, 2010

He just said: "Estoy de vuelta para la llamada". I had to ask him for clarification!! - petersenkid2, Jul 15, 2010

Answer 2

Devolver is used for returning a thing.

Voy a devolver el libro a la biblioteca.

I use regresar and volver for the same thing, but there may be a difference that I don't know.

Vuelvo en seguido.
Regreso pronto.

An after thought: I think that I'd probably use "devolver" when talking about money being returned. :-) - Delores--Lindsey, Jul 13, 2010

Answer 3

OK; I just saw on the TV - "Enseguida Volvemos" as Fresh Prince from Bel Air was going on commercial break.

Answer 4

Regresar can and is absolutely used to mean to return an object - like returning money, or returning a book to the library, or returning shoes to the store that my wife bought because she's already got a million pairs - where volver is not, and devolver is.

So it seems that regresar is a synonym for both volver and devolver, but they are not synonyms of each other. The links above provided by vaanz are great, but I think that what would be the most helpful is a list of examples.