Say Goodbye in Spanish
In Spanish, as in English, there are many ways to greet someone, and there are many ways to say goodbye. You will hear many different versions of this greeting, so even if you do not use them all, it is wise to learn them and recognize them.
Contents
Steps
- Learn the basics. The word you've probably heard and learned in your phrasebooks is adiós.
- Follow the link, listen to the word, and make sure you can pronounce it confidently.Pay attention how it is intoned to imply shades of meaning.
- Think of adiós as approximately equivalent to the English greeting "farewell". It's in use, but it's also a little on the formal side and is more likely to be used preceding a longer or even permanent absence.It relies a lot on the relationship between the people interchanging "adioses".
- Say "good night" if someone is leaving for the night: buenas noches. This can also be used as a greeting when meeting somebody at night ( after dinner is the reference time )
- Use one of these phrases employing the word hasta, meaning "until". Note that some of these phrases refer to when you will see the person next.
- Hasta mañana. (Until tomorrow.)
- Hasta luego. (Until later.)
- Hasta pronto. (Until soon, see you soon.)
- Hasta entonces. (Until then.)
- Hasta más tarde. (Until later.)
- Hasta siempre. (Until forever. While well known, this phrase has a very strong connotation of permanence. It might be used when a couple is separated by death). You shouldn't use it because you might not sound sincere due to its strong meaning.
- Use some version of "see you later".
- Nos vemos. (Literally: We see ourselves. Connotation: We'll see each other later.)
- Te veo. (I'll see you.) Note that this expression implies that you are speaking to somebody familiar (tú), and not anybody you address formally as Usted.
- For a friendly, informal greeting, say chau (sometimes spelled chao). These are equivalent to the Italian ciao, and they are pronounced much the same way.
- A very common pattern for a couple or a bunch of people wanting to meet somewhere sometime is :
- ¿Quedamos ( place) a las ( time ) ? = ¿Quedamos en Doña Taberna a las once? (Let's meet at Doña Taberna at 11 pm?)
Tips
- Here are some other, less common ways to say goodbye. These are less common, but you will probably be understood:
- hasta después (until later)
- hasta más ver (until (we) see (each other) again)
- hasta otro día (until another day)
- hasta entonces (until then)
- hasta la vuelta (until we return)
- hasta cada rato (until whatever moment, until very soon)
- Another phrase you might have heard, ¡Vaya con Dios!, is well known but it will sound dated to most native speakers.
Warnings
- The phrase "hasta la vista", despite its popularity in English, isn't commonly used in Spanish. Use it sparingly, if at all, and be aware that it will probably come off as a joke, if not an outright blunder.
- "Buenas noches" is often heard when there's a blackout, or when there's some sort of failure due to a total running out.
Related Articles
- Use Adverbs in Spanish
- Say the Date in Spanish
- Make an Open List of Spanish Idioms
