เจอกัน
There are a few options for how to say bye in Thai, but the best way to say goodbye is “jur gan” เจอกัน. This works in just about any situation. There are plenty of other variations of goodbye/farewell in Thai many of which are covered in this post.
When I first arrived in Thailand in early 2003, I used a Lonely Planet phrasebook as my main guide for how to speak Thai. That phrasebook told me to say what Google will probably tell you, but it’s not correct. You’ll even see people on Quora telling you to say ลาก่อน (laa gɔ̀ɔn), but I promise you that you will never hear a Thai person say this to you in real life and you will sound silly saying it. You’ll see it on Thai dramas, in movies and you will hear it in songs, but not in normal everyday conversation.
Goodbyes in Thai, like greetings are very dependent on context. There are a few options for different levels of politeness, but here are the best sentences to use in terms of being sufficiently polite, friendly and natural at the same time.
ไว้เจอกัน (wái jəə gan) – Take care; see you
- เจอกัน – (jəə gan) – see you
- เจอกันใหม่ – (jəə gan mài) see you again
- พรุ่งนี้เจอกัน – (prûng níi jəə gan) – See you tomorrow
In any of the above sentences, you could potentially replace เจอ (jur) with พบ (póp) and some books/courses/humans may recommend you do just that. However, even in formal situations, everybody for the most part just uses เจอ so please don’t use พบ either.
Polite Ways to Say Goodbye in Thai
You can make any of the phrases from the previous section more polite by adding the appropriate polite particle khrap/ka which I’m not going to get into here. When you start learning Thai, you may encounter people who try to steer you towards adding in those particles every other breath. This is very excessive and does not sound natural. If you want to play it safe rather than trust me entirely, use these natural, but still polite version.
You can soften those up a little bit by throwing a นะ in before the polite particle, but it doesn’t change the feeling of the sentence drastically.
- ไว้เจอกันนะครับ (wái jəə gan ná kráp)
- ไว้เจอกันนะคะ (wái jəə gan ná ká)
**When you are saying goodbye on the phone, you’ll replace เจอ (jur) “to meet” with คุย (kui) “to talk/chat”
- ไว้คุยกัน (wái kui gan) – goodbye (talk again soon)
There are also a couple of expressions from English which you will hear used fairly often.
How to say Goodbye in Thai
| See you | เจอกัน | jəə gan |
| See you again | เจอกันใหม่ | jəə gan mài |
| See you tomorrow | พรุ่งนี้เจอกัน | prûng níi jəə gan |
| See you next time | ไว้เจอกัน | wái jəə gan |
Goodbye in Thai Phrases on the Phone:
| Talk to you (later) | ไว้คุยกัน | wái kui gan |
| That’s all for now | แค่นี้ก่อน | kɛ̂ɛ níi gɔ̀ɔn |
Goodbye Thai Phrases from English:
| Bye-bye | บ๊ายบาย | báai baai |
| Goodbye | กุ๊ดบาย | gút baai |
| See you | ซียู | sii yuu |
Additional Ways to Say Goodbye in Thai:
| I’m heading off | ไปก่อนนะ | bpai gɔ̀ɔn ná |
| I’m going | ไปละนะ | bpai lá ná |
| I gotta go | ต้องไปละนะ | dtɔ̂ɔng bpai lá ná |
| I need to go | ต้องไปแล้ว | dtɔ̂ɔng bpai lɛ́ɛo |
| I’m taking off | กลับก่อนนะ | glàp gɔ̀ɔn ná |
| I’d better go | ขอกลับก่อน | kɔ̀ɔ glàp gɔ̀ɔn |
How to Say I’m going to Bed/Sleep in Thai
| I’m going to bed. | นอนก่อนนะ | nɔɔn gɔ̀ɔn ná |
| I’m going to sleep. | จะหลับแล้วนะ | jà làp lɛ́ɛo ná |
Thai People Never Say This. Neither Should You:
| Farewell | ลาก่อน | laa gɔ̀ɔn |
Less Common Thai Goodbye Phrases
| See you again | พบกัน | póp gan |
| See you again | พบกันใหม่ | póp gan mài |
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