55 Different words and phrases to say goodbye in Spanish + 17 unique Colombian ways to say bye

How do you say goodbye in Spanish?

Basic answer: adios.

But, did you know that “El Diccionario de la lengua española” published bye RAE has more than 93.000 words?

Imagine how many of those words can be used to say goodbye.

Or how many combinations of words you could use if you knew them all.

Well, certainly I won’t teach you all the 88.000 words just today.

Who knows, perhaps one day I will…  😅 

But for now, I’ll share with you 55 words and phrases that people use in Spanish to say goodbye naturally and spontaneously.

In fact, I’m adding 17 Phrases that exclusively Colombians use to say goodbye at the end of this article, so stick around until the end.

It’s super important that you know this vocabulary.

Why?

Because if you use these phrases, you might sound more natural in Spanish.

Even better, you might even sound cool and you could even make your Spanish-speaking friends laugh.

So let’s get started!

55 Spanish phrases to say goodbye in Spanish

As I was collecting all these phrases I noticed that we don’t use them randomly for any situation.

It all depends on how casual, formal, or if you’re just writing a letter.

Because of that, I arranged the phrases into 4 different categories:

• Neutral phrases.
• Formal.
• Casual.
• And Written ways to say goodbye in Spanish.

So let’s begin with the first and more useful ways to say goodbye in Spanish:

Neutral phrases to say bye

Since you may use these phrases in formal or informal situations, here’s where you can use the basics:

1. Adios: Goodbye.
2. Chao: Bye.
3. Chao, cuidate: Bye, take care.

Now, it’s very common for Spanish native speakers to say bye and express a wish for the other person to be healthy or to have good things in life:

4. Chao, que estés bien: Bye, hope you do well.

There’re actually some variations for this phrase:

5. Chao, que te vaya bien: Bye, hope everything goes well.
6. Chao, que te mejores: Bye, hope you get better (We use this one to say bye to a sick person)
7. ¡Qué disfrutes!: Enjoy!

Or perhaps the person who you’re talking to might throw a little reminder of when the next time to meet will be:

8. Te veo luego: See you next time.

You can be more specific on the next time you’ll see someone:

9. Te veo mañana: See you tomorrow.
10. Te veo en …: See you at (or in)… like “te veo en casa”, “te veo en el aeropuerto”, “te veo en el banco”.
11. Allá nos vemos: See you there.
12. Esta semana nos vemos: See you this week.
13. Hasta nunca: So long… You’ll hear this one if the person who’s talking with doesn’t actually want to see you again.😅 

If you get Spanish-speaking friends, then there’ll probably be a time in which you’ll say bye to them before going to sleep, or just at night in general.

In that case, you could say:

14. ¡Feliz noche!: Have a happy night.
15. ¡Qué descanses!: Hope you get some rest.
16. Qué duermas bien: Hope you sleep well.
17. Duerme bien: Sleep well.
18. Mañana nos vemos: See you tomorrow.
19. Hasta mañana: Literally, until tomorrow, but a better translation for the sense of this phrase would be “see you tomorrow”.

But, hey…

What if you want to sound a little more “appropriate”, or fancy?

Formal phrases to say goodbye in Spanish

A business meeting is over, you’re done talking to your doctor, or you just want to show good manners to your Spanish-speaking in-laws.

If you want to sound a little fancy, then you may say:

20. Hasta luego: Literally until later, but this is a formal way to say “see you next time”.

Or you could try some variations of these phrase:

21. Hasta pronto: See you soon.
22. Hasta entonces: Until then, but it’s just a fancy way to say see you next time too.

You may combine “hasta luego” + a wish so that the other person has a good day/evening:

23. Hasta luego, buen día.
24. Hasta luego, buena noche.

Also, if you just met someone, then you should reiterate that it was nice to meet that person.

You could say, “Hasta luego…”, and then:

25. Mucho gusto en conocerte: It was nice to meet you.
26. Fue un placer: It was a pleasure.
27. Fue un placer verte/verlos: It was a pleasure to see you.

And hey, if you want to act formal, don’t forget to send greetings to other people:

28. Muchos saludos: Many greetings. We use this phrase to send greetings to people in general when there are mutual friends with the person whom you’re talking to.
29. Saludos a tu…: You may use this phrase when you want to send greetings to a specific person like, “muchos saludos a tu abuela”.

But, let’s stop being so formal, I know that most of the time you just want to be friendly when you talk to native speakers.

In that case, you’ll probably want to use the following phrases to say goodbye in Spanish:

Casual phrases to say bye in Spanish

The following phrases will make you sound friendly, and if you use them with native speakers, they’ll probably smile at you every time you say bye:

30. ¡Ahí nos vemos!: See you around!
31. Suerte: Luck! if you say this word, you’re wishing a good day to the other person.
32. Hablamos después: Talk later.
33. Hablamos: A shorter version for talk later.
34. Hasta la próxima: Until next time.
35. Nos vemos: See you.
36. Hasta la vista: Another way to say “so long”.
37. Hasta la vista baby: So long baby. This phrase comes from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1991 Terminator 2 movie.

It’s funny when you say it to people because it’s like if you were about to do something epic, just like they explain it in the movie:

Another option is to wish the other person good things, send greetings, or just joke around a little bit in a casual way:

38. Qué me le vaya muy bien: Hope it goes well for you.
39. Fue un placer que me hayan visto: It was a pleasure that you guys saw me today.
40. Me saludan a… : Say hi to… for example, “Me saludan a mamá”, “me saludan a Alberto”, etc.
41. Saludes a… : Greetings to… as in, “Saludes a tu esposa”, “saludes a tu hermana”.

Now, if you made plans with the person you’re talking to, you can say:

41. Así quedamos: Which means something like “that’s the plan”.

Or if you’re mad, and if you want to say “I’m outta here!”, you can go with:

42. ¡Me largo de aquí!

And, what if you’re on the phone?

Of course, you can say any of all the 42 phrases we’ve seen so far today, but you can also say:

43. Chao, un beso: It’s like “bye, I’m sending a kiss”.
44. Chao, un abrazo: “Bye, I’m sending a hug”.
45. Ya te llamo: I’ll call you back.

How to say goodbye in Spanish via Email or when you’re writing letters

In Spanish, we have some good ways to say bye when we’re communicating via email or when you’re writing a letter.

So, if you’re writing, then you’d want to end your texts with:

46. Atentamente: Carefully written… This is something like, “best regards” in English, it’s the most common phrase to end letters.
47. Cordialmente: It means that whatever you just wrote was formal.
48. Saludos: You’re sending your greetings to the person you’re writing to.
49. Un saludo: A variation of “saludos”.
50. Mis mejores deseos: My best wishes.
51. Un abrazo: Sending a hug via written text.
52. Con todo mi cariño: With all my love.
53. Con cariño: With love.
54. Te quire: Loves you, but it’s not romantic love.
55. Te ama: Loves you. This is romantic love, the kind of love you’d like to send to your significant other.

Just remember that after any of these written ways to say bye, you should include your name.

Like this:

Hola papá, te escribo para invitarte a almorzar hoy, ¿te ánimas?

Con cariño,

Diego.

And, that’s it!

Basically, you may use those phrases all around the Spanish-speaking world.

All native speakers understand those phrases, and you’ll sound just like them if you use them.

Here’s an infographic I made, so you can pin it, save it or print it out, I’m sure it’ll be useful for your to remember this vocabulary:

Now, there are more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries all around the world.

Something really interesting about that is that in each region, you might find expressions in Spanish which only people from those places understand.

I want to share some of those expressions from Colombia, just in case you talk to Colombians in Spanish.

After all, your goal is to understand and talk to native speakers, right?

How to say goodbye in Colombia: 17 words and phrases you need to know

I just want to make clear, that I’ve heard and used all the following phrases in Medellín and all around the “Paisa” territory, which is the coffee zone.

However, You may face different expressions on the coast or in the center of the country because Colombia is such a diverse country.

Nonetheless, most of these phrases are easily understood all across Colombia.

1. ¡Chao, pues!: Bye-bye.
2. ¡Chao pues, mijo!: Bye buddy.
3. ¡Suerte, pues!: Good luck.
4. ¡Nos pillamos después!: See you later.
5. ¡Nos pi!: A shorter version of the previous phrase. If you say it, you’ll sound like you’re just kidding and trying to be friendly.
6. Nos vidrios: See you later.
7. Tesuer: Good luck. This word is a mix of the word “suerte”. Just say the word several times and you’ll see the trick… te-suer-te-suer-te-suer… get it?
8. Suerte es que les digo: Basically, this phrase is saying something like “I’m saying to you all.. good luck!”.
9. Me pinto de colores: To be honest, I don’t know where this phrase comes from, or exactly why people use it to say bye, but Colombians use it as “I’m outta here”. If you say it, you’re indicating that you’re leaving.

Now, let’s imagine you’re joking with your friend, and you want him/her to leave right now. People would normally say:

10. Vayase por la sombrita: Go under the shadow. It’s like if you were giving your friend a suggestion to leave on a very sunny day, and to be careful with the sun. In other words, the message would be: “Go home, you idiot”.

Of course, you can also say it when you’re mad at someone, and that’s going to sound very rude, but we don’t want that!

We want you to make friends and have fun with native speakers.

For example, young Colombians love to have fun, but if you want to understand what they’re saying you need to know some of the slang they use to farewells.

These are some of those expressions they use:

11. La buena: I don’t know how to translate this one, but it’s something like “good vibes for you, bro”
12. Bien: Just good, nothing else; and yes, young people say bye this way.
13. Todo bien: Everything all right. Yes, it doesn’t make sense if you say that when you want to say bye in English, but it does in Colombian Spanish.
14. Las mejores: Just as number 11, it’s something like “The best vibes for you”.

Something else young people do with these slang phrases is adding the slang equivalent to “buddy” in Medellín.

What they really want to say is something like “good luck, buddy” or “see you, man”.

All the following words mean “buddy” in Medellín, so it’s very likely to hear them:

• Parce
• Parcero
• Pa
• Papi
• Cucho
• Nea

Some examples of these combinations would be:

• La buena, parcero.
• Todo bien, cucho.
• Bien, pa.
• Las mejores, papi.

Remember, don’t be afraid. All that means is “bye, buddy”

Colombians love to joke and have fun

Colombians have a bunch of funny phrases we say every time we want to leave a place.

Let me explain myself…

There’s a famous saying in Colombia that goes:

“Indo comido, indio ido, indio mal agradecido”

A translation that makes sense in English would be something like: “Indian ate, indian gone, Indian ungrateful.”

People use that saying when you go visit someone and leave right after having dinner, without spending more time with the person who just gave you food.

That’s why the saying says “ungrateful”. 😁

Basically, that saying communicates the following idea: “Did you just come here so I could feed you, and now you’re leaving?”

Of course, we never say that to offend anyone.

People are usually kidding when they use the saying. In fact, they add some variations to the saying, like:

“indo comido, indio ido, indio volver con tribu”
(Indian ate, Indian gone, Indian come back with tribe).

So, since we have that saying, a funny way to say goodbye to a Colombian would be by starting the saying without actually finishing it.

I’m sure the person who you’re talking to will finish the sentence for you. Like this:

15. Bueno, indio comido…: Well, indian ate…

Another classic saying Colombians have is:

16. Bueno, ustedes hablan muy bueno, pero no dan nada.

And what that means is that you’re hungry, and you’re leaving because there’s nothing to eat.

Finally, after having a fun and interesting conversation, Colombians might say:

17. Ahí les quedo: It means something like “I konw you’ll talk about me”

If you say that in front of Colombians, it means you know that right after you leave, they’ll start talking about you.

Basically, you’re calling them gossipers.

(You’d be kidding). 😅 

I guess this is goodbye…

And there you go!

Now you have a bigger repertory of phrases and words to say goodbye in Spanish.

I know that memorizing all these words would be a super boring homework.

But if you listen to stories in Spanish that have these kinds of vocabulary, it’ll be easier to remember, and you’ll be learning in a very fun and engaging way.

Just make sure you check out my stories to learn Spanish if you want to keep learning vocabulary and phrases that people use in real life.

A good way to start would be to check out:

Stories In Spanish To Understand Native Speakers.

¡Nos vemos la próxima!