Sometimes I talk with people I didn't know before on Skype (writing and voice ) and when we want to say bye I am confused about what to say:
"nice to meet you" or "nice to know you"
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"It has been nice to meet you." or "It's been nice meeting you." You could also use something like "It's been a pleasure talking with you."– Jason PattersonCommented Jul 9, 2015 at 20:36
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If you specifically want to explicitly mention both "activities", it would probably be more idiomatic to say Nice to meet you and get to know you. But because some people might think it was a bit presumptuous to assume you "know" someone through a brief online interaction, perhaps get to know something about you, or get to know a little about you (both forms are perfectly common in such contexts, with native speakers).– FumbleFingersCommented Jul 9, 2015 at 23:58
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1@FumbleFingers Or "get to know you a little".– DCShannonCommented Jul 10, 2015 at 0:36
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3 Answers
"Nice to meet you" is a fine thing to say in this situation. It would be more common to say "It was nice to meet you". However, I wouldn't feel like that was a farewell by itself, but more of a polite thing to say when saying farewell:
"Goodbye, it was nice to meet you."
"Nice to know you" means something quite different. You say "to meet you" after you are done meeting them. You say "to know you" after you are done knowing them. In other words, this is what you say when you are saying farewell forever:
"Too bad you're moving to Texas. It was nice to know you."
Both of these phrase are often said with '-ing' rather than 'to':
"It was nice meeting you."
"It was nice knowing you."
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"Nice knowing you " can also be used jokingly to imply that someone might not return from wherever they're going. For example, "I guess I should go tell Dad I wrecked his car." "Been nice knowing you, Sis."– ColleenVCommented Jul 9, 2015 at 21:22
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@ColleenV True. That usage would be a reference to the meaning cited above. Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 0:34
When you meet someone say
"Nice to meet you"
. When you stop talking with them on Skype, either say
"It was nice meeting you."
or, better in my opinion,
"It was nice talking with you."
Avoid saying "nice to know you;" that phrase is usually associated with that person either leaving your life forever or dying. For example, "It was nice knowing you; I'm sure we're all going to miss you." "knowing" is more frequently said instead of "to know" but they're both grammatically correct.
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The fact that the idiomatic "past continuous tense in the present, predicting the future" usage [It was] nice knowing you is a common sarcastic usage doesn't imply the same applies to other contexts using different verb tenses and moods. Commented Jul 10, 2015 at 0:03