Can someone explain to be why in the north of the country people keep saying venga instead of goodbye or hasta luego when thay are departing each others company.

What is the meaning in this context.

YEP, When I lived in sevilla venga was used often. Venga vale (hurry up already)was common.It is just one of those words that took on a meaning of its own. Any spaniards care to comment?

"Venga" is one of those multipurpose words that gets used in a lot of situations...usually it's in the sense of "come on" or "let's go", but it can also be used like "ok" or "all right". Technically it's the third-person imperative of "venir", or "to come", which is where the "come on" usage comes from.

"Venga, hasta luego" ("all right, see you later") is one of the most typical ways of saying goodbye in Spain.

I've heard entire phone conversations consisting almost solely of the words "vale" and "venga".

Pues venga, pozzi.

¡Vale tío!

I'm not an expert on Spanish, but, since venga is the imperative of venir, it likely is a colloquial, "Come back (soon)," a very reasonable way of saying goodbye to someone...equivalent to American "See you later."

Steve

Just to throw a little monkey wrench into your discussion about venir ---

In English, if you are at home and someone knocked on the door or called for you, you would answer "I am coming."

In Spanish, you would answer "Voy." Translated literally that means "I am going."

Just thought I would see if I could confuse you a little more with regards to venir.