How to Say Goodbye in German: Tschüss, Auf Wiedersehen, and When to Use Each

You're leaving a café in Berlin. The barista was friendly, you had a good coffee, and now you're standing there trying to figure out how to say goodbye in German without sounding like you just finished chapter 3 of "German for Tourists."

Do you go with "Auf Wiedersehen"—the formal goodbye you learned first? But that feels weirdly stiff for a casual coffee spot. Or maybe just "Tschüss"? But wait—is that too casual for saying goodbye in German to someone you just met?

Here's the thing: there are way more ways to say goodbye in German than most courses teach you, and picking the wrong one can make you sound either robotic or way too familiar. The good news? Once you understand which German goodbye fits which situation, you'll stop second-guessing yourself every time you leave a room.

The Two Ways to Say Goodbye You Actually Need First

Look, German has like a dozen ways to say bye. But if you're just starting to learn German, memorize these two and you'll be fine in 90% of situations.

Tschüss (pronounced "tchoos" with that sharp German "tsch" sound like a train leaving a station)

This is your everyday way to say goodbye. Friends, coworkers, casual encounters, people around your age—Tschüss works. It used to be considered the informal way to say goodbye, but these days it's the most common way to say bye in German. You can use it in both formal and informal settings, though it's more natural in casual contexts.

If you only learn how to say one goodbye in German, make it Tschüss. Seriously.

Auf Wiedersehen (owf VEE-der-zay-en)

This literally means "until we see each other again," and it's your formal way to say goodbye in German. Business meetings, talking to your professor, addressing strangers in official settings—Auf Wiedersehen has you covered.

The ironic part? You'll use this German goodbye most often with people you'll probably never see again. The cashier at the store, the person at the ticket counter, random strangers in professional contexts. Germans use "until we see each other again" with strangers all the time.

If you accidentally use Auf Wiedersehen with your friends, you'll sound a little stiff. But you won't sound wrong. If you use Tschüss in a job interview, you might come across as too casual.

When in doubt, err on the side of Auf Wiedersehen with strangers and authority figures. Use Tschüss with everyone else.

Auf Wiederhören: The Phone Goodbye Nobody Tells You About

If you're ending a phone call, Germans don't say Auf Wiedersehen. They say Auf Wiederhören.

Same structure, but "hören" means "hear" instead of "see." So it's "until we hear each other again." Makes sense when you think about it—you can't see someone on the phone, so why would you say "until we see each other"?

Don't mix these up. I've done it more than once and the awkward pause on the other end tells you immediately that you screwed up. This is one of those ways to say goodbye that's super context-specific.

Bis: The Most Versatile Way to Say Goodbye in German

German has a bunch of ways to say bye that start with "bis" (meaning "until"), and they're not interchangeable. They tell people when you expect to see them again, which is apparently important in the German language.

Bis später - See you later (later today)

This specifically means you'll see them again the same day. Like when you leave work for lunch and you're coming back in an hour. Don't use this way of saying goodbye if you're leaving for the weekend.

Bis bald - See you soon

More vague than bis später. Could be this week, could be next week, just sometime soon. This is your safe catch-all if you know you'll see someone again but you're not sure exactly when. One of the most useful ways to say goodbye when you want to end a conversation on a friendly note.

Bis dann - See you then

Use this when you already have specific plans. Like you just made plans to meet for coffee on Thursday, so you say "Bis dann!" as you leave. It acknowledges the existing plan.

Bis morgen - See you tomorrow

Straightforward. You're seeing them tomorrow. Germans like being specific about when they'll see you next.

The pattern here? Germans don't just say "see you later" and leave it vague. They tell you when "later" actually is. This felt weird to me at first, but once you hear it enough times in actual German content, you start doing it automatically.

Regional Ways to Say Goodbye: Servus, Tschau, and Local Dialects

In Bavaria and Austria—the south of Germany—people say Servus for both hello and goodbye. It comes from Latin and technically means "at your service," but nobody thinks about that anymore. It's just the casual greeting down south.

If you use Servus in Hamburg, people will look at you funny. Regional goodbyes are regional. Unless you're actually in that region or you know the person is from there, stick with Tschüss.

Tschau (or ciao, borrowed from Italian) is also common in German-speaking countries, especially in Berlin and among younger people. Like many other languages, German borrowed this informal farewell from Italian. You can use it the same way you'd use Tschüss—casual, friendly, nothing formal about it.

Some Germans also use it as a greeting to say hello, but it's safer to just use it for goodbyes unless you're really confident in the social context.

Northern Germany has its own ways of saying goodbye too, but honestly? As a learner, you don't need to worry about local dialects yet. Learn the standard forms first. When you're actually immersed in German content—shows set in Bavaria, podcasts from Berlin, whatever—you'll pick up the regional variations naturally.

Informal Ways to Say Goodbye That Sound Natural

Germans often combine goodbyes with well-wishes. These aren't required to say goodbye in German, but they help you make a good impression and sound less like a textbook.

Schönen Tag noch - Have a nice rest of your day

You'll hear this constantly in shops, restaurants, any service interaction. It's one of the most common ways to say farewell in everyday language.

Viel Spaß - Have fun (when someone's going to do something fun)

Gute Nacht - Good night

Only use Gute Nacht when someone's actually going to sleep, never as a greeting to say hello. This is different from English where "good night" can sometimes be a greeting.

Mach's gut - Take care

This is a casual way to say bye, only with friends. Very informal way to say goodbye in German.

Wir sehen uns - We'll see each other

This is along the lines of "I'll see you when I see you." A relaxed way of saying goodbye when you're not sure when you'll see them again.

These phrases aren't required. Tschüss on its own is perfectly fine. But if you want to sound more natural and less textbook-ish, throwing in a well-wish makes your German feel more authentic.

Pronounce These Goodbyes Like a Native Speaker

Here's a quick pronunciation guide for the most important German goodbyes:

The best way to learn how to say these correctly? Listen to native speakers in actual German content. Watching German shows or videos, you'll hear how locals say these goodbyes hundreds of times in different contexts, and your pronunciation will naturally improve.

The Formal Farewell Nobody Uses (But You Should Know Exists)

Lebewohl means "live well" and it's the most formal, dramatic way to say goodbye in German. Think someone moving to another country permanently, or that final goodbye scene in a period drama.

You'll never use this in normal conversation. I'm mentioning it because you might hear it in older films or literature, and textbooks love to include it even though modern Germans basically never say it.

If you tell the cashier at ALDI "Lebewohl," they'll think you're either messing with them or you watched too many old German films. Not a common way to say farewell in everyday German.

There's also Adieu (borrowed from French), which is similarly old-fashioned and rarely used in modern German speaking.

The Cultural Thing Nobody Mentions About Saying Goodbye in German

In German-speaking countries, you actually have to say goodbye. Like, you can't just Irish exit from a party or quietly slip out of a shop. Even leaving a store without a quick "Tschüss" to the cashier can get you a look.

This isn't just politeness—it's expected in the German language and culture. The goodbye matters. Which is why learning these ways to say bye isn't just vocabulary practice, it's learning how to not be that foreigner who doesn't follow basic social norms when speaking German.

You also need to know how to say hello and goodbye properly if you want to make any kind of acquaintance in German-speaking countries. These greetings and farewells are fundamental to everyday language.

Why You Can't Learn These Ways of Saying Goodbye From Flashcards

Here's what happens when you try to learn German goodbyes from a list: you memorize Auf Wiedersehen and Tschüss, maybe a couple others, but you have no idea when each one actually fits. You freeze up in real situations because you're running through your mental list trying to figure out which way to say bye to use.

The problem isn't that you don't know how to say the words. The problem is you haven't heard them used in contextual situations enough times to develop any intuition for when each one feels right.

This is exactly why learning from actual German content works better than any textbook or flashcard app. When you're watching German shows with Migaku's browser extension, you're not just seeing the word "Tschüss" pop up—you're seeing who says it to whom in what situation. You're absorbing the social context along with the vocabulary.

You see Tschüss used between coworkers about a hundred times, and suddenly you just know that's the right choice in those situations. You hear Auf Wiedersehen in professional contexts over and over, and it stops feeling awkward when you need to use it yourself. You start to understand which ways to say goodbye fit which contexts naturally.

The instant word lookup means you're not breaking your flow every time you hit an unknown word. You're staying in the content, picking up patterns naturally, building that intuition that tells you which goodbye fits without having to think about it.

Plus, German slang and German swear words you'll hear in real conversations? You're not getting that from a textbook. But you'll hear them constantly in real German media, and Migaku makes it actually possible to learn from that content instead of just being lost.

Look, if you want to actually sound natural when you learn German, you need to hear these goodbyes in contextual situations—not just memorize a list. Migaku's browser extension lets you watch German shows, read German articles, consume whatever German content you're actually interested in, with instant lookups for anything you don't know. The mobile app syncs everything so you can review on the go.

After you've heard "Tschüss" used correctly a hundred times in different situations, you stop wondering if it's appropriate. You just know how to say it naturally. That's how this stuff becomes automatic, and how you'll eventually speak German fluently. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to check it out.