There are many ways to say goodbye in English. While bye and goodbye are well-known and used throughout the world, English speakers often use other expressions when saying goodbye. In fact, goodbye is a lot less common than other, more informal expressions.
These informal expressions should be used with friends and people you are on a friendly basis with. Using them with your boss or doctor would be too informal unless you have a close relationship.
Always consider the situation and context before using informal expressions. While English and American culture (specifically, in the United States) tend to be more casual and informal than places like Korea and Japan, there are still different levels of formality and politeness that need to be considered. If you are worried about sounding too informal, you can use any of the following depending on the time of day and day of the week.
- Goodbye
- Have a nice day.
- Have a good lunch.
- Have a nice evening.
- Have a good weekend.
How to Respond When Someone Says Goodbye to You First
For any Have a nice_________. or Have a good ____________. expression, you can respond by saying, Thanks, you too.
For example:
Park Bo-gum: Have a nice day!
Kim Yoo-jung: Thanks, you too!
It’s not necessary to include thanks. You can just say You too. Or, if you want to increase the level of formality, you can say Thank you. You too.
For any other, you can repeat the same thing back to them (often in a shortened form).
For example:
Kim Ji Hye: See you tomorrow!
Lee Ji Won: See you tomorrow!
Informal Ways to Say Goodbye in English
- See you later!
- See you tomorrow/Friday/next week/etc.
- See you! (Usually pronounced See ya!)
- Later!
- Catch you later! (Usually pronounced Catchya later!)
Remember, if someone says one of these to you, you can answer easily by repeating the same greeting (or shortening it).
For example:
Ollie: See ya later!
Elsa: See ya!
or
Ollie: See ya later!
Elsa: Later!
In summary, 10 ways to say goodbye in English are:
- Bye
- Goodbye
- Have a nice day.
- Have a good lunch.
- Have a nice evening.
- Have a good weekend.
- See you later!
- See ya!
- Later!
- Catch ya later!
Bye bye!
Note: While saying Bye bye is common in Korea, it is used when talking to children in English. For that reason, it can be considered 애교 talk and sounds cute. ?
Related post, Greetings vs. Real Questions and Different Ways to Say Hello in English.
Never stop learning!
~ Trey
