How to Say “See you soon” in Chinese
Greetings and politeness
"See you soon" in Chinese is 回头见 (huí tóu jiàn). 回头见 literally means 'turn the head and see'; it's a casual 'catch you later' when you'll meet again the same day or soon. 待会见 (or 一会儿见 yíhuìr jiàn in Beijing) is even more immediate, like 'back in a sec.
Primary translation
回头见
huí tóu jiàn
Traditional: 回頭見
Variants by register
Casual
待会见
dāi huì jiàn
When to use it
回头见 literally means 'turn the head and see'; it's a casual 'catch you later' when you'll meet again the same day or soon. 待会见 (or 一会儿见 yíhuìr jiàn in Beijing) is even more immediate, like 'back in a sec.' Avoid it for formal goodbyes; use 再见 there. On WeChat voice messages 回头见 is extremely common. Note: 见 (jiàn) 'to see/meet' is the productive ending that builds most Chinese farewells (明天见, 下周见, 北京见).
Example sentences
我去开个会，回头见。
Wǒ qù kāi gè huì, huítóu jiàn.
I'm off to a meeting, see you soon.
待会见，我五分钟就回来。
Dāihuì jiàn, wǒ wǔ fēnzhōng jiù huílái.
See you in a bit, I'll be back in five minutes.
好，晚上回头见！
Hǎo, wǎnshang huítóu jiàn!
Okay, see you tonight!
Related phrases
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