Picture it: you’re finishing an awesome conversation in Spanish and, well, you don’t want to settle for a bog-standard ‘adiós’ (‘goodbye’ in English).
But how do you translate a more casual ‘see you later’?
Well, I’m going to let you in on the best ways to say ‘see you later’ and also give you a few fun slang phrases to use on the way.
Let’s get to it!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. ‘Hasta luego’ is perhaps the best translation of ‘see you later’ and it’s used throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
2. ‘Nos vemos’ is like saying ‘see you’ and it’s as popular as ‘hasta luego’.
3. It’s also very common to say ‘cuídate’ (or ‘take care’) when saying goodbye.
There are also lots of variations of both ‘hasta luego’ and ‘nos vemos’.
They’re normally formed by adding an adverb, such as ‘pronto’ (‘soon’), ‘después’ (‘afterwards’), and ‘al rato’ (‘in a while’).
Nos vemos pronto. = See you soon.
1 Hasta luego – See you later
‘Hasta’ translates to ‘until’ and ‘luego’ to ‘later’ or ‘then’, so ‘hasta luego’ normally means either ‘see you later’ or ‘goodbye’.
No matter where you go in the Spanish-speaking world, you can use ‘hasta luego’ when ending a polite conversation.
If anything, it might sound a bit too formal when used with close friends and relatives …
… but we’ll get to the slang versions of ‘hasta luego’ soon enough, don’t you worry!
En una cafetería
Barista – Listo, aquí tienes tu latte.
Cliente – ¡Gracias! Hasta luego.
At a coffee shop
Barista – There you go, here’s your latte.
Customer – Thank you! See you later.
2 Nos vemos / Ahí nos vemos – See you / See you around
‘Nos vemos’ is the Spanish equivalent of ‘see you’ or ‘see you around’.
It’s slightly less formal than ‘hasta luego’ – so you’ll definitely hear it used amongst friends and family – but it´s also polite enough to use in formal conversations.
In Mexico you may also hear the phrase ‘ahí nos vemos’, or ‘see you there’, even if you haven’t actually agreed to meet at a specific location.
Después de una cena con amigos
Melissa – Me la pasé muy bien; ojalá se repita.
Gilberto – Claro, cuando gustes. ¡Nos vemos!
After a dinner with friends
Melissa – I had a great time; let’s do it again sometime.
Gilberto – Sure, whenever you like. See you!
Irma – Ya llegó mi mamá. ¡Ahí nos vemos!
Gaby – Cuídate, saludos a tu mamá.
Irma – My mom’s here. See ya!
Gaby. – Take care. Say hi to your mom from me.
3 Hasta pronto / Hasta la próxima – See you soon
If you want to say ‘see you soon’ (rather than ‘see you later’) in Spanish, you can say ‘hasta pronto’ instead of ‘hasta luego’.
You may also come across the phrase ‘hasta la próxima’, which roughly translates as ‘until next time’.
En el último día de clases
Alumno – ¡Nos vemos después de las vacaciones!
Maestra – ¡Hasta pronto, niños!
On the last day of school
Student – See you after the holidays!
Teacher – See you soon, children!
Al final de un video
Youtuber – Espero hayan disfrutado de este tutorial. ¡Hasta la próxima!
At the end of a video
Youtuber – I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. See you next time!
4 Hasta + día de la semana – See you on + day of the week
If you do have a specific day set for meeting again, just say ‘hasta’ followed by ‘el’ (masculine article) and then the day of the week: ‘lunes’, ‘martes’, ‘miércoles’, ‘jueves’, ‘viernes’, ‘sábado’ and ‘domingo’.
Dos compañeros de tenis
¡Hasta pronto, Iván!
¡Hasta el sábado, Xavi!
Two tennis partners conversing
See you around, Iván!
See you on Saturday, Xavi!
5 Nos vemos + adverbio – See you + adverb (or adverbial phrase)
You can also add a number of adverbs – such as ‘pronto’ – to ‘nos vemos’.
The following are particularly common:
- pronto = soon
- después = after
- al rato = later
- en un rato = in a bit
- en un ratito = in a little bit
- luego = later
En el metro
Farid – Me bajo en esta estación. Nos vemos luego, bro.
Alejandro – Dale. Te veo después.
On the subway
Farid – I get off at this station. See you later, bro.
Alejandro – Ok. See you later.
6 Te veo + adverbio – See you + adverb
‘Te veo’ just means ‘see you’, and it’s another popular way of saying goodbye.
It’s polite but mostly informal, and you can also add one of the above listed adverbs on the end if it takes your fancy.
Acabando una llamada telefónica
Adiós, mi amor, te veo en un ratito.
Finishing a phone call
Bye, sweetheart, see you in a bit.
7 Cuídate – Take care
Simple and sincere, ‘cuídate’ means ‘take care’ in English.
Amelia – ¡Nos vemos el próximo viernes!
Marcela – Ándale*. ¡Cuídate mucho!
Amelia – See you next Friday!
Marcela – Sounds good. Take care!
*Erika’s note – in this context ‘ándale‘ means something along the lines of ‘ok’ or ‘sounds good‘, BUT it has loads of other uses. Find out more by shimmying across to our dedicated article on all things ‘ándale‘.
8 Ahí nos vidrios (slang)
Remember ‘ahí nos vemos’?
Well, in Mexico you may also hear ‘ahí nos vidrios’.
‘Vidrios’ means ‘glass’, so don’t go looking up the literal translation because it’s not gonna make much sense …
… it´s actually just an innocuous wordplay based on the fact that both words (‘vidrios’ and ‘vemos’) start with the same letter (‘v’).
¡Ahí nos vidrios, wey!
Later, bro!
9 Aquí se rompió una taza (slang)
This Mexican expression is the short version of ‘aquí se rompió una taza y cada quien para su casa’, and it’s just a fun farewell which basically means ‘I’m (or we’re) leaving now, see you around’.
Feel free to whip this one out even if there isn’t a broken cup in sight!
En un cumpleaños
Tío – Bueno, aquí se rompió una taza …
Sobrino – ¿Ya se van tío?
Tío – Ya, mija.* Mañana hay que madrugar.
At a birthday party
Uncle – Well, I´m off …
Nephew – Are you leaving, Uncle?
Uncle – Yeah, kiddo. I have to get up early tomorrow.
*Erika’s note – ‘mijo’ is a contraction of ‘mi hijo’ and it’s used as a term of endearment. If you want to find out more, be sure to check out our ‘mijo’ vs ‘hijo’ showdown!
10 Nos vemos al ratón (slang)
Finally, we have a cute Mexican expression derived from ‘nos vemos al rato’.
Instead of ‘al rato’ (or ‘in a bit’), just say ‘al ratón’ (‘un ratón’ is a ‘mouse’ in Spanish).
It’s basically a play on words and it makes for a rather endearing mental image if you ask me!
Un papá deja a su hijo en la escuela
Te portas bien con tus maestros, eh. ¡Nos vemos al ratón!
A dad leaves his son at school
Be nice to your teachers, ok? See you later, alligator!
Final thoughts
So, there you have it, 10 different – and very useful, I might add – ways to say ‘see you later’ in Spanish.
I encourage you to try a few out for size the next time you get to speak the language!
Feeling adventurous? Surprise your friends with one or two of the slang expressions listed above.
And if you wanna level up your skills even more, be sure to check out all the different ways to respond to ‘buenos días’.
¡Ahí nos vidrios!
