How to Say Goodbye in Cantonese: 10 Ways to Say Bye Like a Local

So you want to say goodbye in Cantonese. Maybe you're heading to Hong Kong, maybe you've got Cantonese-speaking friends in Macau or Guangdong, or maybe you're just tired of awkwardly waving and smiling when your conversation partner is clearly waiting for you to say something.

Here's the thing: most resources will give you 再見 (zoi3 gin3) and call it a day. And yeah, that's technically a way to say goodbye. But it's a bit like only knowing how to say "farewell" in English. Technically correct, but nobody actually talks like that.

Let me break down the common ways to say goodbye in Cantonese—what native speakers actually use when they're leaving, and more importantly, when to use each phrase.

The Most Common Ways to Say Bye in Cantonese

拜拜 (baai1 baai3) — The Universal Bye

This is the one. If you learn nothing else from this Cantonese lesson, learn this.

It's borrowed from English "bye-bye," so it's already familiar. Cantonese speakers use this expression constantly—with friends, family, coworkers, the guy at the convenience store. It's casual, warm, and universally understood across Hong Kong.

The tones are Tone 1 (high flat) followed by Tone 3 (mid-level). Think of starting high and dropping to the middle.

再見 (zoi3 gin3) — The Formal Farewell

This is the "proper" way to say goodbye in Cantonese. Literally means "see again." You'll hear it in more formal situations—business meetings, news broadcasts, when you're saying goodbye to someone you don't know well.

Both syllables use Tone 3 (mid-level), so keep your pitch steady in the middle of your range.

Here's the honest truth: if you just use 拜拜 for casual situations and 再見 for formal ones, you're covered for like 90% of your Cantonese goodbye needs.

Ways to Say Bye When You Need to Leave First

This comes up all the time when you're learning Cantonese. You're at a gathering, you need to head out, and you want to politely announce your departure.

走先啦 (zau2 sin1 laa1) — "I'm heading off" / "I gotta go"

Literally means "go first." It's what you say when you're leaving before others. This phrase is super common in daily conversation throughout Hong Kong.

You can also use the longer version: 我要走先喇 (ngo5 jiu3 zau2 sin1 laa3) — "I need to go first." Same idea, just slightly more complete.

This is interesting from a linguistic standpoint, actually. In the Cantonese language, the word order is "go first" (走先), while Mandarin would say "first go" (先走). If you're curious about how Cantonese differs structurally, we've got a whole post on whether Cantonese is a language or dialect that gets into this.

Cantonese Goodbye Phrases for Making Plans

These ways to say bye work great when you want to imply you'll see the person again:

下次見 (haa6 ci3 gin3) — "See you next time"

Warm, friendly, implies you actually want to meet up again. Use it with people you have a good relationship with. This is one of the most common Cantonese expressions for ending a conversation on a positive note.

遲啲見 (ci4 di1 gin3) — "See you later"

More casual. Good for when you know you'll bump into someone again soon. The di1 here is a common Cantonese particle that softens the phrase.

聽日見 (ting1 jat6 gin3) — "See you tomorrow"

Self-explanatory. Use it when, you know, you're seeing them tomorrow. Basic Cantonese, but essential vocabulary.

The Business and Formal Way to Say Goodbye

係咁先 (hai6 gam2 sin1) — "That's it for now"

This one's interesting. It's how you wrap up a meeting or professional conversation in Hong Kong business settings. Literally something like "it's like this first." You won't use this phrase with your friends—it'd feel weirdly formal.

The Texting Shortcut Nobody Tells You About

88

Yep. Just the number 88.

In Cantonese, 8 sounds like "bye" (baat3 sounds close to baai). So 88 = bye-bye. It's quick, it's easy to type, and you'll see it everywhere in text conversations. This is the kind of common Cantonese vocabulary that textbooks completely skip over.

Why Tones Matter When You Say Goodbye in Cantonese

Look, I know. Everyone talks about tones when you're trying to learn Cantonese, and it can feel overwhelming. But with goodbye phrases, getting them roughly right makes a real difference.

The Cantonese language has six tones (some linguists count nine, but let's not go there right now). The good news: the main goodbye phrases aren't the trickiest combinations.

The bad news: using the wrong tone on common words can genuinely confuse people or change your meaning entirely. If you're trying to learn Chinese seriously, spending time on tone practice is honestly one of the highest-value Cantonese lessons you can do early on.

For Cantonese goodbye phrases specifically:

The key is listening to native speakers and mimicking. A lot. This is one area where Cantonese lessons from textbooks really can't help you—you need to hear the audio in context.

Cultural Context: How Hong Kong Says Goodbye to Someone

Here's something that surprised me when I first learned about Hong Kong culture: physical farewells are different.

In a lot of Western cultures, you might hug, kiss on the cheek, or shake hands when greeting someone or saying goodbye. In Hong Kong and Macau? Generally not.

Cantonese speakers typically just say the Cantonese words, maybe add a gentle wave. Hugs are uncommon. Kisses on the cheek? That's going to make people uncomfortable. A handshake is fine in business settings when meeting someone formally, but even that's not always expected.

So don't feel awkward just saying 拜拜 and walking away. That's literally what everyone does. The phrase does all the work—no additional expression needed.

Quick Reference: Various Ways to Say Goodbye in Cantonese

Casual (friends, daily life):

Neutral (most situations):

Formal (business, people you don't know):

Night/Evening:

Caring:

Cantonese vs. Mandarin: The Confusion Point

If you've studied any Mandarin, here's where language learning gets tricky.

再見 is written exactly the same in both languages. Same characters. But the pronunciation is completely different:

拜拜 is also shared, but pronounced differently:

The characters unite them on paper, but you can't just swap pronunciations. This trips up a lot of learners who come to Cantonese learning with a Mandarin background. The Cantonese greetings are similar in concept—you can say hello with 你好 in both—but the execution differs significantly.

Beyond Hello and Goodbye: Actually Learning Cantonese

Here's the problem with phrase lists and vocabulary flashcards: you read them once, maybe practice a few times, and then forget everything the moment you're actually in a conversation.

The phrases stick when you encounter them repeatedly in context. When you hear 拜拜 at the end of a Hong Kong drama for the fifteenth time, suddenly it's just... there. In your brain. Ready to use. Same goes for when you hear someone say hello with 哈囉 or the more formal 你好 (nei5 hou2).

That's where watching Cantonese content comes in. Hong Kong has fantastic films, TV shows, YouTube creators. Guangdong has tons of native content too. The more you watch, the more these Cantonese words stop being "vocabulary items" and start being things you just know.

Anyway, if you're serious about Cantonese learning—actually getting these goodbye phrases and greetings into your head for real—Migaku's browser extension makes the whole process way smoother. You can watch Hong Kong movies or Cantonese YouTube with instant lookups. Hover over any word and get the pronunciation with audio, meaning, and the option to add it to your flashcard deck automatically.

The thing that makes it actually useful for learning Cantonese specifically is hearing phrases in natural contexts from native speakers. Online Cantonese lessons can tell you 拜拜 is casual, but hearing a character say it to their friend versus how a newscaster says 再見—that's what makes the register differences click. It's the difference between memorizing vocabulary and actually acquiring the language.

There's a 10-day free trial if you want to test it out. Worth a shot if you're tired of memorizing phrase lists that don't stick.

Learn Cantonese With Migaku