Hi Isaak! Great question! Both of these verbs mean "to return". They are very close synonyms. возвращаться is imperfective - возвратиться is perfective . You will use them depending on the context. Вернуться has no imperfective aspect, therefore its usage is limited to all perfective functions. SO, вернуться can't always be interchanged with возвращаться because of this limitation. If you are familiar with the Verbal Aspect, then this will be your main criteria of choice. Another interesting thing.... If you look at other verbs of the same root ( повернуться/ развернуться ) you will see that all this verbs are performed "locationally", physically in one spot. Something finds itself on the same previously mentioned spot. Возвращаться though implies motion. Someone has made a way to return, he's covered some distance to appear on the same spot. When you say Он возвратился, there has to be a context of a place that he has returned from. If you say ОН вернулся, then you are just happy he is back.

All these words are synonyms, but not complete synonyms. The words «возвратиться» and «возвращаться» are cognate. The difference is in their use. You can use all of them after some words like "нужно", "нельзя", "необходимо", "можно". The word «возвращаться» has more general idea, like someone's possibility to come back. The words «возвратиться» and «вернуться» have more motivation in their meanings, like someone's intention to come back. You can say: "Я хочу вернуться/возвратиться" ,but "Я не хочу возвращаться", but "Я не могу вернуться/возвратиться". By the way, the word «возвратиться» is rarely used and sounds a bit strange. If you want more examples, write to me.

Что ДЕлать = > возвращаться (несовершенный вид) Что СДЕлать = > «возвратиться» = «вернуться» (совершенный вид) Все эти слова синонимы, но отличаются в использовании. Глагов ВОЗВРАТИТЬСЯ используется редко, в определенных случаях.

It's a good question