English Speaking Practice-What Do Brits Say Instead of Goodbye?
Are you eager to sound like a native in your English conversations? We have lots of great English speaking practice in our latest lesson: 'Ways of Saying Goodbye in English'. It's free and fun, you have little to loose and lots to gain, so start listening now.
Why Join Our Lesson?
- 👂 Listen & Learn: Learn how to say key phrases for everyday farewells.
- 🗣️ Speak Like a Native: Discover quirky, fun expressions.
- 🚀 Boost Your Fluency: Enhance conversation skills for all levels.
- 🌍 Embrace British Culture: Get a taste of real, informal British English.
- 🔥 Hot Tip: 'See ya later, alligator!' - Learn the playful phrase that'll charm your English-speaking friends.
✔Lesson transcript: https://adeptenglish.com/lessons/english-speaking-practice-how-to-say-goodbye/
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
⭐ George Bernard Shaw
As a language learner, engaging in this lesson offers a valuable chance to grasp how native speakers use informal goodbyes in daily English. It's not just about learning words but understanding the culture and context behind them. You'll start sounding more like a native, picking up on nuances that textbooks don't always cover.
This is key to fluency: not just knowing the language, but feeling it in real-life situations. Remember, language learning is as much about absorbing the culture as it is about memorizing vocabulary!
You must be the change you want to see in the world.
⭐ Mahatma Gandhi
Add a twist of fun to your English conversations with quirky phrases from our latest podcast. Learn English goodbyes that catch attention! Check out our lesson on Spotify and say goodbye with style. #EnglishVocabulary #FunEnglish
More About This Lesson
Welcome to Adept English! Discover fun and unique ways to say 'goodbye' in English. Our lesson today is not just about words but about connecting and sounding natural. Say goodbye to ordinary farewells and hello to engaging conversations!
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
⭐ Albert Einstein
Things you will learn from listening to today's English speaking lesson:
- Learn various informal goodbyes, sounding more like a native speaker.
- Understand cultural nuances in English farewells.
- Discover phrases for different contexts, enhancing versatility.
- Gain knowledge of casual expressions, useful in everyday conversations.
- Hear examples of farewells in natural speech, improving listening skills.
- Learn the subtleties of formal vs. informal goodbyes.
- Understand the emotional and cultural aspects of farewells.
- Discover fun, quirky phrases adding humour to conversations.
- Gain exposure to British English and its specific expressions.
- Improve overall fluency through listening and repeating.
The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters.
⭐ Audrey Hepburn
Benefits of our listen & learn approach to learning
Main takeaways from today's lesson:
- Beyond the Textbook: Learn informal, everyday English farewells.
- Cultural Insights: Discover farewells that reflect British culture.
- Practical Usage: Practice using these phrases in your daily conversations.
- Building Connections: Understand how farewells can strengthen social bonds.
- Fluency Development: Enhance your fluency by sounding more natural and confident.
Why join this lesson?
- Cultural Depth: Understand the historical evolution of 'goodbye' and its significance.
- Global Perspective: Learn about global variations in English farewells.
- Psychological Insight: Discover the importance of parting words in human interaction.
- Overcome Fears: Address common concerns about sounding unnatural or misunderstanding cultural nuances.
- Continuous Learning: Gain access to ongoing resources for improving your English skills.
Get quirky English farewell phrases to use daily. Join our YouTube community for more! #EnglishFluency #AdeptEnglish
Frequently Asked Questions about "Ways to Say 'Goodbye' in English"
Discovering fun ways to say 'goodbye' in English with Adept English is like unlocking a treasure chest of conversational gems, each farewell sparkling with its own unique charm.
- What are some informal ways to say goodbye in English? In informal English, people often use variations of 'goodbye'. Common examples include 'bye', 'bye-bye' (especially to children or in a sarcastic tone), 'See ya', 'See you soon', 'See ya later', 'Have a good day', 'Take care', 'Be safe', 'Have a good one', 'Night', 'Evening', 'Morning', 'Take it easy', 'Catch you later', 'So long', 'Keep in touch', 'Don't be a stranger', and playful phrases like 'See ya later, alligator' with the response 'In a while, crocodile'.
- How do British people commonly say goodbye informally? British people often use phrases like 'bye', 'See ya', 'Take care', 'Have a good day', and 'Night'. They may tone down expressions like 'Have a great rest of your day' to 'Have a good day', reflecting a more understated British style.
- What is the difference between 'See ya later' and 'See ya soon'? 'See ya later' is typically used when you expect to see the person again later the same day, whereas 'See ya soon' is used when the next meeting isn't precisely scheduled but expected to happen in the near future.
- Are there any unique or quirky ways to say goodbye mentioned in the transcript? Yes, the transcript mentions a playful phrase from the 1950s: 'See ya later, alligator' with the response 'In a while, crocodile'. This phrase adds a fun and nostalgic touch to farewells.
- Can I use these expressions in formal situations? Most of these expressions are suited for informal situations. In formal contexts, it's better to use more traditional farewells like 'Goodbye', 'Good night', or 'Good afternoon'. For informal settings, these expressions can help you sound more natural and fluent in English.
Most Unusual Words:
- Farewells: Goodbyes; expressions used to say goodbye.
- Informal: Casual, not formal or official.
- Sarcastic: Using irony to mock or convey contempt.
- Tone it down: Make something less intense or noticeable.
- Take care: Be cautious; look after oneself.
- Catch up: To talk with someone and learn what they have been doing.
- So long: An informal way of saying goodbye.
- Mozzarella cheese moment: A humorous, personal phrase indicating a sense of attachment and reluctance to part (not a common phrase in general use).
- See ya later, alligator: A playful, rhyming way to say goodbye.
- In a while, crocodile: A humorous, rhyming response to "See ya later, alligator".
Most Frequently Used Words:
| Word | Count |
|---|---|
| People | 11 |
| About | 9 |
| Going | 9 |
| Might | 9 |
| Other | 8 |
| English | 7 |
| Another | 7 |
| Informal | 6 |
| Person | 6 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
Transcript: Quick Goodbyes-Short And Sweet Ways To Say Goodbye
Hi there. Today let’s look at brief and informal ways to say ‘goodbye’ in everyday English conversations.
Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.
Today's lesson is all about varying your farewells! In just a few minutes, you'll discover the secret of sounding like a native when you ‘part ways’ in English. It’s not quite grammar, it’s not quite idioms, this one - but it’s still very useful. Different ways of saying ‘Goodbye’ in English? It’s not that often that people actually say ‘Goodbye’ in informal conversation, so what do they say instead? Listen until the end of this podcast for a quirky, classic phrase that'll add a bit of fun to your English conversations.
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Hands texting a goodbye message on a smartphone, with emojis and heart symbols. Enjoy quirky, classic phrases to spice up your English conversations.
Is 'Goodbye' too formal for casual chats?
So ways to say ‘goodbye’. At the end of every podcast - so that you can easily recognise that it’s the end of the podcast - I say ‘Enough for now, have a lovely day, speak to you again soon, goodbye’. It’s not that people don’t use ‘goodbye’ at all, but they use a whole lot of other sayings as well, when they part company with someone and it’s informal conversation. Let’s run through some of what people say today, so that you’re familiar and you can use these sayings yourself.
Bye Bye as a way to patronise someone?
So we’re talking about informal spoken English here. There are different expressions you might use, say at the end of a letter or an email - those are written farewells, written goodbyes. I’ll cover those another time. Today let’s stick with ‘goodbye’ in spoken conversational English. So first of all important to mention that people use shortened forms of ‘goodbye’. They might say ‘bye’, BYE - or if it’s to a younger person or a small child, or even if we’re being sarcastic perhaps, we might say ‘bye-bye’.
See ya later!
We also might say something like ‘See ya’, where the ‘ya’ means ‘you’. Or even ‘See you soon’ or ‘See ya later’. Often when we part from someone, we soften the parting slightly by talking about when we’ll see the person again. ‘See ya soon’ is very common. That’s when we’re not sure when we’re going to see the person again - but it won’t be long. And if you say ‘See ya later’ - that’s much more likely to be to a friend or family member that you’re going to see again later on the same day. ‘See ya later’ is what we’d say if we were leaving the house, going out - and we’re returning in a couple of hours.
Have a nice day!
If you’re American, you might be more inclined to say ‘Have a nice day’ or ‘Have a great rest of your day’. This does get used in the UK, but perhaps a little less so. We ‘tone it down’ because we’re British - so we might say ‘Have a good day’.
Take care and have a good one!
Another ‘goodbye’ phrase that people sometimes use - I use this one all the time - ‘Take care’. Meaning ‘take good care of yourself’ , ‘go carefully until I see you next time. Literally ‘Don’t have an accident or don’t let something bad happen to you!’. ‘Take care’. Another one that’s similar ‘Be safe’! ‘Drive carefully’ perhaps you would say, if someone’s setting off on a car journey.
People say things like ‘Have a good one’ - meaning ‘have a good evening’ or ‘have a good day’. And the more formal farewells or ‘ways of saying goodbye’ - things like ‘Good night’ or ‘Good afternoon’ - we do still use those. But bear in mind it’s formal. So as an informal greeting, we’re more likely to say ‘Night’ or ‘Evening’ or ‘Morning’. That’s either as a greeting or as you leave someone.
Take it easy and catch you later!
Other casual ways to say goodbye - ‘take it easy’ - which is literally ‘don’t stress yourself, don’t get worked up about anything. Have a nice time’! We might also say ‘Catch you later’. The verb ‘to catch someone’ - can mean ‘to get to speak to them’ - to notice that the person is there and go and take the opportunity to speak with them. That’s ‘to catch someone’- as in ‘I caught him just as he was going into the café’. This is different from ‘to catch up with someone’ - that has two meanings. ‘To catch up’ can mean that you’re walking along the street - and you see this person walking ahead of you, so you walk faster and you come level with them. We’d then say you’d ‘caught up with them’. But another meaning of ‘to catch up’ - this is what you do with a friend, when you haven’t seen them for a while. You ‘catch up’, meaning that you have a conversation and you each talk about your news, ‘what’s new’ in your world. So at the end of such a meeting, you might say you’ve ‘caught up with them’. I might say to friends, ‘Let’s have a catch-up’. So ‘Catch you later’ just means ‘See you later’.
So long. Keep in touch. Don’t be a strange.
Another couple of informal ‘farewells’. People say ‘So long’ - as a way of saying goodbye. That’s an odd one, now I come to think of it, I’m not sure why we say that - it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But people do say ‘So long’ - probably referring to the length of time before you see each other again. Another thing we say ‘Keep in touch’ or even ‘Don’t be a stranger’ meaning we may not see each other for while, but ‘keep in touch’ means ‘message me’! In this Whatsapp and Facetime day and age, keeping in touch with people at distance is really very easy.
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The ‘Mozzarella Cheese Moment’
A particular thing I say, usually to my daughters as both live a little distance away, not at home - we talk about the ‘mozzarella cheese moment’. By this, we’re talking about the ‘moment of parting’. I’ve explained to them many times - although I like that they’re grown up and independent - I love it - but as a mother, I do still miss them. So that when we say goodbye each time, when we part - especially when it’s at a railway station or a tube station - I call it a ‘mozzarella cheese moment’! It’s like there are attachments, like strings of cheese stretching between us. The parting hurts a little - we don’t know when we’re going to see each other again, but we do know it’s going to be soon! That’s specifically something I say however, not a phrase in general use, but we do talk in our family about the ‘mozzarella cheese moment’ of saying goodbye!
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See ya later, alligator' - cute or cringey?
The last expression I’m going to cover today, another way of saying goodbye - this is an old one, I think from the 1950s. It’s the sort of playful thing that grandparents say to their grandchildren. One person will say ‘See ya later, alligator’. And the standard response is ‘In a while, crocodile’. Apparently this comes from a song, which was a hit for Bill Haley and the Comets. So if someone says to you ‘See ya later, alligator’ - you know what to reply! ‘In a while, crocodile’.
Goodbye
Let us know if this podcast was useful. And I’m going to go with my usual goodbye phrases!
Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
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