How to Say Goodbye in French 🇫🇷 (Without Sounding Like a Robot)

So you're wondering how to say goodbye in French. You probably already know "au revoir." Maybe you picked it up from a movie, or your high school French teacher drilled it into your head, or you've been repeating it in some app for the past three weeks.

Here's the thing: au revoir is fine. It works. But if that's the only goodbye in French you know, you're going to sound... well, like a tourist.

French people have a bunch of different ways to say goodbye. The one you choose depends on who you're talking to, when you'll see the person again, what time of day it is, and how well you know them. Use the wrong one and you might get a polite smile. Use the right one and suddenly you sound like you actually speak French.

Let's fix that.

Au Revoir: The Default That Works Everywhere

Let's start with the obvious. "Au revoir" literally means "until we see each other again." It's polite, it's neutral, and you can use it with pretty much anyone — your boss, a shopkeeper, your French teacher, a stranger on the street.

In real French, people pronounce it more like "orvoir," gliding over that middle syllable. If you're saying "oh-ruh-vwah" with clear separation between each part, you're overthinking it.

One pro tip: in formal situations, you can add Monsieur or Madame to make it more respectful. "Au revoir, Madame" hits different than just "au revoir" by itself.

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Salut: The Casual One (That Also Means Hello)

If you've been learning French for any amount of time, you probably know "salut" means hi. What a lot of people don't realize is that it also means bye. Same word, both directions.

This is an informal way of saying goodbye — save it for friends, family, or people you're on a first-name basis with. Don't use it in a job interview or with someone older unless you want to come across as overly familiar.

The nice thing about salut is you can use it at any time of day, in any casual situation. Quick and easy.

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Time-Specific French Goodbyes

Here's where French gets more specific than English. We basically just have "see you later" and call it a day. French people want to know when later.

À tout de suite — You'll see the person in a few minutes. Like, you're just running to grab coffee.

À tout à l'heure — You'll see them later today. Maybe a few hours from now.

À plus tard — See you later, but no specific time in mind. This often gets shortened to just "à plus" (pronounce the 's'), and in text messages you'll see it written as A+.

À demain — See you tomorrow. Straightforward.

À bientôt — See you soon. You expect to meet again fairly soon, but you're not being specific about when.

À la prochaine — Until next time. You have no idea when you'll see them again, and that's fine.

See the pattern? French gives you precision. Once you start using these instead of generic au revoir every single time, you sound like you actually know what you're doing.

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Bonne Journée and Bonne Soirée: Wishing Someone Well

These expressions get used constantly in France, and a lot of French learners forget they exist.

Bonne journée means "have a good day." You say it when leaving — not when arriving. This trips people up because in English we might say "good day" as a greeting. Not in French.

Bonne soirée means "have a good evening." Same deal — it's for departures, not arrivals.

You'll hear these all the time when leaving shops, restaurants, or at the end of work. And French people often layer them: "Au revoir, bonne journée!" or "Salut, bonne soirée!" It adds warmth without being weird.

Important distinction: Bonne nuit (good night) is specifically what you say when someone is about to go to bed. It's more like "sleep well" than a general goodbye. Don't use it when you're leaving a restaurant at 9pm unless you're implying they should go straight home and pass out.

If you're used to saying hello in French with bonjour and bonsoir, think of bonne journée and bonne soirée as their farewell counterparts.

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Adieu: The Dramatic Farewell (Use With Caution)

You might know "adieu" from movies or songs. It sounds romantic and dramatic. The word evolved from "à Dieu" — literally, "to God."

Be careful with this one.

In modern French, adieu carries a sense of finality. It implies you're never going to see the person again. Like, ever. This is what you'd say to someone on their deathbed, or in an extremely dramatic breakup, or maybe as you're boarding a ship to the New World in 1642.

It's not completely unusable — in Swiss French it's actually pretty casual — but in France proper, throwing out an "adieu" when you just mean "see you later" will get you some confused looks. Or people might think you're being theatrical on purpose.

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Informal Expressions for Saying Goodbye

French has plenty of casual ways to bounce. Here are a few you'll hear among friends:

Ciao — Yes, it's borrowed from Italian, but French people use it all the time, especially younger folks. You'll hear it a lot at the end of phone conversations.

Bisous — Means "kisses." Used among friends and family, usually by women or in mixed company. You might end a text with this or say it as you're parting ways with close friends.

Je m'en vais — Literally "I'm leaving." Neutral and everyday. Good for when you're heading out.

Je me casse — Very informal slang, roughly "I'm outta here." The verb casser means "to break," but se casser means to take off or get going. Use with friends only.

On s'appelle — "We'll call each other." A common way to end a conversation between people who talk regularly.

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La Bise: The Physical Goodbye

We can't talk about French goodbyes without mentioning la bise — the cheek-kiss greeting that also happens when you leave.

In every situation where you'd give la bise as a hello, you're expected to do it again when saying goodbye. Yes, this means if you arrive late to a party, you'll spend ten minutes kissing everyone hello, and then spend another ten minutes kissing everyone goodbye when you leave.

The number of kisses varies by region. Two is most common (and the Paris standard), but some areas do three or four. Nobody fully agrees on whether you start with the left cheek or right cheek either. Just follow the other person's lead and try not to bump noses.

Quick rule: la bise is for friends, family, and social equals. In professional settings, a handshake is usually safer unless you've been explicitly welcomed into the bise circle.

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Regional Variations Worth Knowing

If you're going to Quebec, be aware that French Canadians often mix languages. You might hear "salut, bye!" as a casual farewell — yes, using the English word "bye" right after the French one. That's just how it goes there.

Even weirder: some Quebecers say "bonjour" when leaving. This will absolutely confuse you if you're used to European French, where bonjour is strictly a greeting. But in Quebec, it works both ways.

In Belgium, you'll hear "à tantôt" a lot, meaning "see you soon" — used in both formal and informal settings.

In Switzerland, "adieu" doesn't carry the same dramatic finality. People use it casually without implying they'll never see you again.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using bonne nuit as a general evening farewell. It's bedtime-specific. If it's 7pm and you're leaving dinner, say bonne soirée instead.

Dropping adieu casually. Unless you're in Switzerland or being intentionally dramatic, this word carries weight.

Forgetting to add Monsieur/Madame in formal contexts. "Au revoir, Monsieur" sounds more polished than just "au revoir" when you're talking to someone you should be respecting.

Using salut with your boss or someone you just met. Keep it casual for casual situations.

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Putting It Together

French goodbyes aren't complicated once you understand the logic. You've got your universal au revoir, your casual salut, your time-specific à bientôt and à demain, and your well-wishing bonne journée. That's already more vocabulary than most beginners ever bother to learn.

The key is actually hearing these expressions used by real French speakers in real contexts. Not isolated flashcard drills, but actual conversations — characters saying goodbye at the end of a scene, people wrapping up phone calls, friends parting ways after dinner.

That's something textbooks struggle with. Phrases like "à tout à l'heure" or "on se voit" make way more sense when you've heard them naturally a dozen times in different shows or movies. You start to feel when each expression fits instead of trying to remember rules.

This is also why adding phrases like thank you in French to your vocabulary becomes so much easier when you learn them from content you're actually watching — the context does most of the work for you.

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If you want to actually internalize these goodbye expressions (and the hundreds of other everyday phrases that make you sound fluent), Migaku is built for exactly that. The browser extension lets you look up words instantly while watching French shows on Netflix or YouTube, and you can save phrases directly to your flashcard deck without interrupting what you're doing.

The whole point is learning French from content you'd watch anyway — not artificial dialogues where everyone speaks at half speed. Real people saying "À plus!" at the end of a phone call. Someone yelling "Je me casse!" as they storm out of a room. Natural usage you can actually absorb.

There's a 10-day free trial if you want to see how it works. And if you're wondering why you should learn French in the first place, we've got you covered there too.

À bientôt. 👋