Though there are relatively few ways of saying “Hello,” the Dutch certainly make up for it when saying goodbye. Hmmm… wonder if that says more about the Dutch or the company they keep 😉
Either way, saying hello and goodbye are the two most important things to know when learning a new language. And we at Transparent Dutch have got you covered.
Image by Woodleywonderworks at Flickr.com under CC BY 2.0
So without further ado, here are 29 ways to say “Goodbye” in Dutch.
Tot ziens –> So long
Tot gauw –> See you soon
Dag –> Goodbye
Doeg –>Bye
Doei –> Bye
Vaarwel –> Farewell
Hoje –> Bye (Limburg and Nijmegen)
Houdoe –> Bye (Brabandt)
Ik ga je zien –>I’ll be seeing you
Later –> Later, but spoken with a Dutch accent (short “a”)
Tjuus –> Bye (the Dutch spelling of the German Tschüss)
Doe-doei –> Bye-bye
Tot straks –> See you soon
Tot later –> See you later
Ajuu –> Bye
Tabee –> I’m outta here
Toedeledoki –> Toodaloo
Joe –> Bye
De mazzel –> Good luck
Laters –> Laters (baby)
De ballen –> Goodbye
Tot de volgende keer –> Till next time
Tot kijk –> Till I see you
Tot zo –> See you in a bit
And just in case you need them (because, you never know)
Tot in de pruimentijd –> Till hell freezes over
Zie je aan de poort –> See you at the (pearly) gate
These you want to think of as the Dutch equivalents of “see you later, alligator” and “after awhile, crocodile”
Tot sinas –> a take on “tot ziens” and “sinas” as in “sinasappel” (orange, the fruit)
Ajuu paraplu –> literally, this would be “later, umbrella”
Goede dagschotel –>goededag + dagschotel (special of the day, dish of the day) = goededagschotel
If you’ve got more ways to say “peace out” in Dutch, please share in the comments so I can add them to this list.
And once you’re finished reading this post and leaving a comment, you can go ahead and make like a tree and leave! (Or check out more posts on the blog, read more about saying “toedeledokie,” or keep hanging out here for the next learn Dutch post — whatever floats your boat)
Till we meet again!
Okay, now let’s see who was paying attention… Did anyone catch the 50 Shades reference?
Comments:
Roos Naeff:
Vind ik leuk! (Like :))
I would like to add an instruction for the use of ‘Tot straks’. Sometimes my students (learning Dutch) make me smile, when they say ‘tot straks’ when they will not see me again until next week. ‘Tot straks’ means see you very soon = the same day.
tiffany:
@Roos Naeff Aw that’s cute! Yeah, as a Dutch language learner I found “tot gauw” “tot straks” and “tot zo” so confusing. I think I just wanted them all to have slight differences in meaning instead of being more or less interchangeable 🙂
Jacqueline ter Haar:
This is fun and will make me think! Being Dutch I think you have covered the all and more! An I read the pearly shades:)! The only thing to add is, I think, that due to the many foreign influences we also use more and more foreign ways to say goodbey such as: bye, CU, ciao and adios! Great Blog Post!
tiffany:
@Jacqueline ter Haar Glad you enjoyed it! I thought about adding some of the foreign ones as well, but I wasn’t sure if that might be too much in one post. Perhaps a future post 🙂
J:
@Jacqueline ter Haar Almost all countries in the world use words from other languages like “bye” and “ciao” (especially in Europe). But actual influences on the Dutch LANGUAGE itself happens more in Belgium. There are more international, especially French influences in Flemish Dutch I would say, like “salukes” or “merci”, due to the other “half” of the country being French-speaking.
Esther:
I’m missing the way we say goodbye up here in the North (Fryslan)
We say Hoi as goodbye…
tiffany:
@Esther Oh that’s neat! Thanks for including it
Doedel:
I’d like to ad that Ik ga je zien is actually not considered ABN, general (algemeen) neat, (beschaafd) Dutch (nederlands). It’s more something people who’s native language is different but grew up there say. It’s not very polite. Adios, even though it is spanish is used as well by the way.
Darrell:
Something I heard quite often whilst living in Dordt was de groetjes or just groetjes, vond Ik leuk hoor.
Beatrice Hendon:
This post is very informative.
Peter:
Not to forget you often say “Have a nice… evening or day”
Fijne avond!
Fijne dag!
Eveline:
As a native Dutch person i would like to add something. To be really formal you could use ‘val dood’ to say goodbye. But it’s not something you say to a friend it’s more formal like at the end of a job interview of when meeting someone senior
Sten:
@Eveline NO, Eveline, absolutely not. You cannot say ‘val dood’ to say goodbye. You could say that when you absolutely hate somebody and walk away angrily. It means ‘just die’, or literally ‘fall dead’. So no, I don’t think you’ll get the job after the interview with this!
Levecque:
Tks so much, Tiffany it’s great, could you put a new sentence a day? It will help me pretend to understand what people say when in Amsterdam for work.
aazan:
the Dutch spelling of the German Tschüss
in which case someone say tashuss
Mary:
Love all the comments … Mary