Memory Play Notes

What goes up must come down, and what starts with “hello” must eventually end with “goodbye” — or at least a “see you later.” If you’re interested in learning so much as the bare-bone essentials of conversation building blocks, then you’ll definitely need to know how to say goodbye in Norwegian.

Then again, you might be able to skate by without mastering your sign-off. It’s been said that the Irish Goodbye could also be termed the Norwegian Goodbye, as it’s not uncommon to simply ghost a party without saying anything.

As with most things Norwegian, you won’t need to worry about nailing the pronunciation in one specific way either, as there is no spoken standard in Norwegian — which means you’ll encounter many regional differences in how some of these words are pronounced. Nevertheless, you can press the play button below to hear how these words and phrases are voiced by a native speaker.

How To Say Goodbye In Norwegian

For Less Familiar Situations

The “formal” goodbye in Norwegian isn’t actually all that formal today — slightly antiquated-sounding words like farvel (farewell) and adjø (adieu) are not commonly used.

In most cases where you don’t know the other person super well and you want to be polite, you would simply say Ha det bra! This means “goodbye,” but literally translates to “Have it good!”

Keeping It Casual

Among friends and family, there’s a variety of ways to say goodbye in Norwegian.

The most common one is merely a shortened version of the formal goodbye: Ha det! This effectively means “Bye!” and literally translates to “Have it!” You’ll generally only hear this one among people who already know each other, so when in doubt, stick to Ha det bra.

You’ll also hear different variations of Vi ses! (“See you!”) or Vi snakkes! (“Talk to you later!,” literally “We speak!”). Sometimes people will drop the Vi and just say Snakkes! Sometimes, ses is also spelled sees.

Here are a couple other more casual options:

• Ha en god dag! — Have a good day!
• Morna! — Bye!
• Vi ses i morgen! — See you tomorrow!
• Takk for nå — Thanks for a good time (lit. “Thanks for now”)

That last one is indicative of a bigger trend in Norwegian where you sign off by thanking someone for the day, for the meal or whatever it is you just shared together.

Some Specific Goodbyes

Now that you’ve got a basic sense of how to say goodbye in Norwegian, here are a few examples of how to work these into more complex sentences.

• Ja, fint. Vi ses i morgen! Ha det! — Yes, fine. See you tomorrow! Bye!
• Ha det bra og god bedring! — Bye and get well (soon)!
• Det var godt å se deg. — It was good to see you.
• Ha det, og takk for i dag! — Bye, and thanks for today!
• Ser deg senere. — See you later.