להתראות, ביי, נתראה, כל טוב | Hebrew Grammar

A Hebrew goodbye is often a short sequence rather than one magic word. One expression accepts that the conversation is ending, another promises future contact, and a final token performs the actual parting. The pieces are easy; the useful skill is learning what each one contributes and which wishes change for the person addressed.

The core inventory

These formulas all close interaction, but they do different jobs. No reliable source justifies ranking one as the universal default or calling another stiff, so choose by meaning and situation rather than an invented frequency hierarchy.

Formula	Function	Register
ביי	bye	(informal), international loan
להתראות	goodbye / until we see each other	neutral
נתראה	we'll see each other	neutral
נדבר	we'll talk	neutral
נשמע	we'll be in touch	(informal)
כל טוב	all the best	neutral closing wish
לילה טוב	goodnight	neutral, late-night or bedtime parting
שבת שלום	Shabbat shalom	calendar-bound greeting or parting

להתראות, ותודה שבאתם.

lehitra'ót, vetodá shebátem

Goodbye, and thank you for coming. (to a group)

נתראה מחר ליד התחנה.

nitra'é makhár leyád hatakhaná

See you tomorrow by the station.

נדבר אחרי הפגישה ונחליט מה לעשות.

nedabér akharéi hapgishá venakhlít ma la'asót

We'll talk after the meeting and decide what to do.

טוב, נשמע בהמשך. ביי!

tov, nishmá bahemshekh. bai!

All right, we'll be in touch. Bye! (informal)

נתראה, נדבר, and נשמע are first-person plural future forms. They include both speaker and addressee, so they do not change when either person is male or female. English see you hides the subject; Hebrew says, in effect, “we will see one another.”

💡

Use the future-contact forms literally enough to remember them: נתראה predicts seeing one another, נדבר predicts talking, and נשמע loosely promises contact. They close the present exchange by pointing beyond it.

A closing unfolds over several moves

Here is a complete informal phone ending. Read it as four turns, not as a vocabulary list:

אוקיי, אז סגרנו למחר.

okéi, az sagárnu lemakhár

Speaker A: OK, so we're set for tomorrow. (agreement)

יאללה, נדבר בבוקר.

yála, nedabér babóker

Speaker B: All right then, we'll talk in the morning. (release + future contact; informal)

סבבה, נשמע.

sabába, nishmá

Speaker A: Great, we'll be in touch. (accepting the close; informal)

ביי ביי.

bai bai

Speaker B: Bye-bye. (final parting; informal)

Each turn moves the conversation forward. אוקיי confirms the practical outcome. יאללה releases the speakers from the interaction. נדבר/נשמע supplies a bridge to later contact. ביי ביי performs the final sign-off. A shorter closing can still be grammatical; this transcript simply makes the internal structure visible.

The sign-off use of יאללה is dictionary-attested. Hebrew Wiktionary lists it among four senses and labels all four (slang). It does not mean “hurry up” here; it means roughly “all right then, let's wrap up.” Its wider uses belong to יאללה as a discourse marker.

אוקיי, יאללה, נדבר מחר. ביי ביי.

okéi, yála, nedabér makhár. bai bai

OK, all right then, we'll talk tomorrow. Bye-bye. (informal closing sequence)

💡

Do not force every token into the translation “goodbye.” In a closing, אוקיי agrees, יאללה releases, נדבר promises contact, and ביי parts. Their functions form a sequence even when the English subtitle repeats “OK” and “bye.”

Wishes at the end of a conversation

A closing can add a wish after the closing move: כל טוב, שיהיה לך יום טוב, לילה טוב, or a calendar-bound שבת שלום. The bare formulas כל טוב, לילה טוב, and שבת שלום do not change for gender.

כל טוב, ובהצלחה במקום החדש.

kol tuv, uvehatslakhá bamakóm hekhadásh

All the best, and good luck in the new place.

כבר מאוחר, אז לילה טוב ונדבר מחר.

kvar me'ukhár, az láyla tov unedabér makhár

It's already late, so goodnight and we'll talk tomorrow.

שבת שלום, תחזרו הביתה בשלום.

shabát shalóm, takhzerú habáyta beshalóm

Shabbat shalom—get home safely. (to a group)

The longer wish שיהיה לך יום טוב contains לך, which changes in speech even though unpointed writing hides the difference: לְךָ lekhá to a man, לָךְ lakh to a woman. Plural forms are לכם lakhém and לכן lakhén.

שיהיה לך יום טוב, ותמסור דש למשפחה.

sheyihyé lekhá yom tov, vetimsór dash lamishpakhá

Have a good day, and give my regards to the family. (to a man)

שיהיה לך יום טוב, ונתראה מחר.

sheyihyé lakh yom tov, venitra'é makhár

Have a good day, and see you tomorrow. (to a woman)

תשמור על עצמך changes with the addressee

“Take care” is not a frozen phrase in Hebrew. Everyday Hebrew uses a future form as the directive here, and both that verb and the reflexive track the addressee:

Addressee	Form	Romanization
one man	תשמור על עצמך	tishmór al atsmekhá
one woman	תשמרי על עצמך	tishmerí al atsmékh
men or mixed group	תשמרו על עצמכם	tishmerú al atsmekhém
women	תשמרו על עצמכן	tishmerú al atsmekhén

ביי, תשמור על עצמך ותתקשר כשתגיע.

bai, tishmór al atsmekhá vetitkashér kshetagía

Bye, take care and call when you arrive. (to a man)

להתראות, תשמרי על עצמך בדרך.

lehitra'ót, tishmerí al atsmékh badérekh

Goodbye, take care on the way. (to a woman)

English uses one invariant take care. Hebrew makes the addressee audible twice: in the directive verb and in עצמך/עצמכם/עצמכן. Freezing the masculine form therefore creates an agreement error, not merely a stylistic preference.

Common Mistakes

1. Mixing feminine address with masculine and third-person forms.

❌ דנה, תשמור על עצמה.

Incorrect — when addressing Dana, both forms must be second-person feminine: תשמרי על עצמך.

✅ דנה, תשמרי על עצמך ותכתבי לי כשתגיעי.

Dána, tishmerí al atsmékh vetikhteví li kshetagí'i

Dana, take care and write to me when you arrive.

2. Making טוב feminine after masculine יום.

❌ שיהיה לך יום טובה.

Incorrect — יום is masculine, so the adjective is טוב.

✅ שיהיה לך יום טוב ונסיעה נעימה.

sheyihyé lekhá yom tov unesi'á ne'imá

Have a good day and a pleasant journey. (to a man)

3. Translating “we'll see each other” with a third-person form.

❌ אנחנו יתראה מחר.

Incorrect — first-person plural ‘we'll see each other’ is נתראה.

✅ אנחנו נתראה מחר אחרי העבודה.

anákhnu nitra'é makhár akharéi ha'avodá

We'll see each other tomorrow after work.

4. Misspelling להתראות with an extra yod.

❌ להיתראות

Incorrect spelling — the hitpa'el infinitive is להתראות, with no י after ה.

✅ להתראות, ותודה על כל העזרה.

lehitra'ót, vetodá al kol ha'ezrá

Goodbye, and thanks for all the help.

Key Takeaways

ביי, להתראות, נתראה, נדבר, נשמע, and כל טוב perform different parts of a closing; no evidence-based frequency ranking makes one universal.
A full closing can move through agreement, release, future contact, and parting: אוקיי … יאללה … נדבר … ביי ביי.
The sign-off יאללה is dictionary-attested (slang).
נתראה and נדבר are first-person plural and do not change for gender.
שיהיה לך changes its spoken לְךָ/לָךְ with the addressee, while תשמור/תשמרי and עצמך must agree throughout.
לילה טוב is a night-time parting; שבת שלום works around Shabbat.

Now practice Hebrew

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Hebrew →