The most common way to say Goodbye like a Thai is เจอกัน (jer gan) and หวัดดี (wàt dee). But you can also say สวัสดี sà-wàt-dee (the same word as hello).
I noticed many Thai learning applications and google translate say that goodbye is ลาก่อน (laa gòn). However, you will never hear ลาก่อน being used in everyday life. Keep reading and I will explain more.
You can watch the video version below and download the transcript here.
เจอกัน (jer gan)
เจอกัน (jer gan) is the most popular way of saying bye.
เจอ (jer) means to meet and กัน (gan) means together or each other. So It translates roughly to “we’ll meet again”. เจอกัน (jer gan) is like saying “see you later”.
You can use it with friends or in most situations.
หวัดดี (wàt dee)
This is the shortened form of saying สวัสดี (sà-wàt-dee) that you will hear Thais use a lot.
สวัสดี (sà-wàt-dee)
This is another common way of saying goodbye. It is the same word as hello. สวัสดี (sà-wàt-dee) is a more formal way of saying bye.
พบกันใหม่ (póp gan mài)
พบกันใหม่ (póp gan mài) is pretty much the same as เจอกัน and you can use them interchangeably. พบ is to meet. ใหม่ means again. It is an informal way of saying goodbye and is more like saying we’ll meet again or see you later.
โชคดี (chôhk dee)
This is a friendly way of saying goodbye. โชคดี (chôhk dee) actually means good luck. However, you will hear Thais using it as a way of saying goodbye as well.
ดูแลตัวเองด้วย (doo lae dtua ayng dûay)
You might hear ดูแลตัวเองด้วย (doo lae dtua ayng dûay) as a way of saying bye. This actually means “take care of yourself” (ดูแล means take care, ตัวเอง means oneself, ด้วย means too) but like in English you can say it as a replacement for goodbye.
ลาก่อน (laa gòn)
Most of the time you will only hear this word is in movies or dramas. The correct use of ลาก่อน (laa gòn) is when you are leaving for a long time and it is a farewell. However, you will NOT hear this word being used in everyday life.
To summarize, the most commons ways are เจอกัน and หวัดดี.
As always remember to end all the sentences with ค่ะ (kâ) if you are a female and ครับ (kráp) if you are a guy or you can also use นะ ná to sound friendly.
You will now be able to say Goodbye like a Thai!