How to Say Goodbye in Russian: 69 Useful Words and Phrases (2024)

During my first trip to Russia, I only knew 2 ways to say goodbye in Russian:

• До свида́ния
• Пока́

Now: those 2 words are great ways to say bye in Russian BUT…

… they get boring after a while.

I just started feeling uncomfortable saying the same 2 farewells over and over again.

That’s why it’s nice to know multiple ways of saying bye if you’re learning Russian – or if you’re just learning the basics as a preparation for a trip.

So I’ve prepared 69 words and phrases for you to leave a good last impression.

But you need to watch out with what you say:

The Russian language is highly formal. That means that you should be polite to people you don’t know, or that have a ‘higher status’ in society or a specific situation.

For example your granddad, a police officer, or the prime minister.

That’s why I’ve grouped the different ways of saying goodbye in Russian into 3 different categories:

• Formal ways to say goodbye in Russian
• Informal words to say goodbye in Russian
• Situation-specific phrases to say goodbye in Russian

69 ways how to say Goodbye in Russian

Below you’ll find 16 common ways of saying goodbye in Russian.

You don’t need to know all of them.

I recommend you just pick one of the more common ones, and practice it a couple of times.

It’s much better to smoothly say one, than to try to know them all, but not as smooth.

By the way, if you want to learn Russian quickly, I've got a course that teaches you how to use strategic habit-building to make learning Russian fun, easy, and automatic. It's not free, but it's helpful if you're currently struggling with learning Russian. You can find more information here.

Formal words and phrases

The following phrases are good departing words. Say these phrases to people that you need to be polite.

Goodbye in Russian – до свидания (do svidanya)

This is the most common and popular way to say goodbye in Russian.

До свидания literally means: till date.

You can say this basically in any situation. Both formal and informal. So if you would only learn 1 phrase in this entire article, it should be до свидания.

If you’re familiar with the pronunciation of words in the Russian language, you may know that an unstressed о sounds like an а. That is also the case with this word. The correct pronunciation is: da svidanya. You can connect the words and say them as one single word.

Have a good day in Russian – хорошего дня (khoroshevo dnya)

If you want to wish someone a nice day when leaving, you can tell them хорошего дня. It literally means ‘of a good day’. In Russian, the words for ‘good day’ are хороший день, but if you wish it to someone it changes to the genitive case.

You can say this in most situations, as it’s a formal way of saying goodbye. Though it’s a more formal than informal way. And you’re most likely to hear it from people you don’t know well. It’s okay to say this as a foreigner.

If you want to make it even more formal, you can address the person you’re saying it with Вам, and add this word in front.

All the best in Russian – всего хорошего (vsevo khoroshevo)

This is another way to wish someone well. всего хорошего literally means ‘of all the good’, and again is in the genitive case. This is a little less common than хорошего дня, as it’s a stronger way of wishing someone well. It’s also more polite, and I wouldn’t recommend saying it as a foreigner. As it can be difficult to get the correct level of politeness.

You can also mix it up by wishing someone всего́ до́брого, which also means all the best. But добрый literally means ‘kind’, so you’re literally wishing someone ‘all the kindest’. But in speech it virtully means the same.

Till next time in Russian – до встречи (do vstrechi)

This is again a phrase that can be used in both formal and informal situations. До встречи literally means ’till meeting’.

And you say it when you expect to see the other person again. This is unlike до свидания, that you can also say if you likely will never see someone again. For example in a tourist shop on Arbat Street in Moscow.

До встречи should be reserved with people you know better and is a good way of ending a business conversation for example.

You can also mix it up by adding the word foor ‘soon’: скоро. Or if you know that there will be multiple meetings in the future, you can say the plural до новых встреч.

Informal ways to say bye in Russian

If you’re learning Russian, it’s nice to know a couple of informal ways of saying goodbye. Again, don’t try to learn all of them right away. But rather make sure you know the most common ones. And maybe a couple of situational goodbyes.

Each of these is a good way of saying goodbye to friends and family.

Bye in Russian – пока (poka)

This is the most common way to say goodbye to friends in the Russian language. It’s a very simple word. Because the first о is unstressed, the pronunciation of пока is more like: paka. It’s a quick word that you absolutely should know as a foreigner, and no native speakers will look weirdly at you for saying it.

And just like in English, you can say this word twice. This slightly makes it more informal. So if you’re unsure, try only saying пока пока to friends and family. The pronunciation is again like paka paka.

See you soon in Russian – до скорого (do skorovo)

If you know you’re going to see someone soon again, you can tell them до скорого. It literally means ’till soon’. But it can be better translated as ‘see you soon’ or ‘see you later’. До скорого leans more on the informal side of farewells, but can also be used in more formal situations, where you know the other person.

And if you’re sure you’re going to see someone again tomorrow, you can tell them до завтра. It literally means ’till tomorrow’. This can also be used in polite situations, but since it’s a quite short way to say goodbye, it’s better used for more informal situations.

Just like for tomorrow, you can also say this for any day of the week. Or for next week, month, or even year.

Good luck in Russian – удачи (udachi)

If you’re saying goodbye and also want to wish someone good luck, you tell them ‘удачи’. This literally means ‘of luck’. It’s a great word to tell someone that’s going to an exam or a difficult meeting at work. You can also say this to be polite, but since it’s quite a personal thing, often you only say it to friends, family, and close colleagues.

There are also a couple more options, which are very similar to the ‘all the best’ we saw earlier in this article.You can use them as well when you want to wish someone well. Счастливо is more informal. And всех благ is already getting old-fashioned, so I wouldn’t recommend a foreigner to say it.

It’s time in Russian – мне пора (mnye pora)

If you’re meeting with a group of friends, but you know you need to leave at a specific time, you can tell them мне пора. It literally means ‘to me it’s time’.T

There are also a couple of other options such as when you want to say that you need to run or go.

Пошли literally means ‘we have left’, but can also be used as ‘let’s go’. Поехали has the same thing, but then if you want to leave by transport.

See you later in Russian – увидимся (uvidimcya)

A simple way to say ‘see you later’ or ‘ see you soon’ is the word увидимся. It literally means ‘we will see each other’. you can say it when you’re saying goodbye to a friend and want to see them again. увидимся is also common, so it’s a good word to know. You can also add the word for ‘tomorrow’ to turn this phrase into ‘see you tomorrow’: увидимся завтра.

Another similar word is встретимся, which literally means ‘we will meet’. You can also add words such as ‘soon’ or ‘tomorrow’ to make it more specific.

Take care in Russian – давай (davai)

Давай is a magic expression in Russian. That’s because it has a hundred different meanings, and that depends very much on the context. As a goodbye, the meaning of давай is like: ‘take care’ or ‘ok’. It’s a bit more difficult to use it correctly, as it implies agreeing with what the other person just said and then leaving. First, wait till you are an intermediate speaker and have heard many Russians say this, so you have a better overview of how to say it.

If you want to say this to more than one person, you use the plural form. Since давай is an imperative, you add the ‘те’ to it to make it a plural imperative.

Specific occasions to say goodbye in Russian

The following vocabulary is for specific situations to say goodbye in Russian.

Good night in Russian – спокойной ночи (spokoinoi nochi)

If you want to wish someone good night, you tell them спокойной ночи. It literally means ‘of a calm night’.

Good journey in Russian – счастливого пути (shastlivovo puti)

When someone is leaving on a journey, you can wish them a good journey. This comes from the word for ‘happy’: счастливо and way: путь.

And if someone is having a flight, then you can wish them a good flight. There are a couple of different ways of saying this, but I like хорошо́ долете́ть. It means ‘to arrive by plane well’.

Farewell in Russian – прощай (proshai)

If you’re sure you will not see the other person for a very long time, this is the correct way to say it. It is a very strong word, so be sure to only say it when the occasion asks for it. It has the same meaning as ‘farewell’ in English. And you also wouldn’t say that when you’re leaving a meeting with a friend, and you know you’re going to see them the next week. Using прощай would imply you’re leaving for a long time and would make your friend worry.

Just like with давай, прощай is an imperative. And if you want to say it to more than one person, you add ‘те’ to the end.

Saying goodbye on the phone in Russian

If you’re having a phone conversation, you can sign off with most of the ‘real life’ goodbyes as well. But there are a couple of specific ones, you can only use when on the phone. До связи and созвонимся can be used for phone calls. And спишемся for text messages.

How to end your letter/email in Russian

If you’re learning Russian, chances are at a certain point you will write an email in Russian. The most safe word for this is с уважением, and it’s formal. I pretty much use only this one for all communication with Russian people, unless I know them well in person. С наилу́чшими пожела́ниями is also formal.

If you know the person well, you can just use пока or до свидания.

Foreign words for goodbye in Russian

In the last years, it has become very common for Russian (mainly younger generations) to use foreign words in their speech. So it’s not uncommon to hear any of these words below.

I would NOT say these words as a foreigner, unless your Russian is really good, and it’s clear that you’re saying this jokingly.

The most interesting one is гуд-байте. It’s not commonly heard, but it’s a mix of the English goodbye + the Russian ‘те’ for making something plural.

Saying goodbye to close ones in Russian

Here are a couple of more goodbyes that you can say to people you know well.

Целую you can basically only say to people you’d kiss in real life. So that can be your partner. Or also close family ties (if it’s common in your culture that you give them a kiss on the cheek). I personally wouldn’t say this to anyone, except for my girlfriend.

Обнимаю is a phrase that you’ll mostly hear between middle aged men who were in (young) adults in the nineties. The first time I heard a grow man say this on the phone to another grown up man, I found it funny and weird at the same time. But it’s nineties slang.

Рад был тебя́ ви́деть is a phrase you can basically say to any friend/family member you haven’t seen in a while – if you’re happy to actually have seen them of course. If you see several people, you can change тебя for вас. And if you’re a woman, be sure to say Рада была тебя́ ви́деть. Рад is an adjective, so it changes according to the gender of the person who’s saying it.

Береги́ себя́ is another way of saying take care. Береги́те себя́ is the plural form (see the ‘те’ at the end)

Say hi to your mom in Russian

If you want to tell someone ‘Say hi to …’ you can do that by using привет + noun in the dative case. Usually this is added after you’ve already said goodbye to someone, and then wanted to add to tell them to also say hi to a family member or friend.

One last tip

There’s no need to learn ALL these words on this page. But it is important that you can recognize them when a native speaker says them to you.

I recommend you pick 1 formal and 1 informal way of saying goodbye. Then practice them several times, so you know how to pronounce them well – and they’re on the tip of your tongue whenever you need to say them.