How to say “see you later alligator” in Spanish

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see you later alligator spanish

”Later, gator” in Spanish

In English, there is a popular children’s rhyme to say goodbye to someone:

  • See you later, alligator.
  • In a while, crocodile!

What is the equivalent of this send-off in Spanish? Literally, you could say:

  • Hasta luego, caimán
  • Hasta luego, cocodrilo (or “En un rato, cocodrilo.”)

But, that’s not so common to say, and doesn’t rhyme quite so well.

3 things you can say in Spanish instead of “see you later”, alligator”

In some locales, a more colloquial and regionally-appropriate version would be something like “chao pescao”. You can think of this as the Chilean way of saying “See you later, alligator.” It literally means “Goodbye, fish” which is has a rhyming and sing-songy feel in Spanish (like “In a while, crocodile!” does in English).

In other Spanish-speaking places, you will instead hear “Me las piro, vampiro” (“I’m heading out, vampire”) or adiós, corazón de arroz (“bye, heart of rice”), which are literally quite different, but put across the same meaning with the same sort of rhyming vibe. They are also quite nonsensical, and the last word doesn’t really add anything to the meaning – just a rhyme. But, you’re not really saying goodbye to a crocodile or an alligator in English, either.

see you later alligator in Spanish

However, overall it is probably more common to say nos vemos or hasta mañana if you want to say goodbye in Spanish the “normal” way.

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