kiitos: 'thanks' and 'please'

kiitos is the first politeness word most learners meet, and it does double duty. It is "thank you," but it is also the closest thing Finnish has to "please." There is no separate word for "please" in Finnish — that function is split between the conditional mood (see politeness through the conditional) and, in short orders, this very word kiitos. Understanding both jobs, and the case that follows when you thank for something, covers most everyday courtesy.

kiitos as the missing "please"

Append kiitos to an order and it fills the polite-request slot. This is the standard way to order in a café, buy a ticket, or ask for something over a counter — a bare noun phrase plus kiitos:

Note kahvia in the first example: after a number, Finnish uses the partitive (kahvia, not kahvi), and this holds whether or not kiitos is present — that comes from the number, not the courtesy word. The takeaway is that you do not need a dedicated "please"; the fixed pattern [what you want] + kiitos already sounds polite.

kiitos as "thank you"

Standing alone, kiitos is a plain, neutral "thank you," fine in every register. You can dial the warmth up or down:

Kiitos paljon and paljon kiitoksia are both everyday intensifiers. The casual clip kiitti belongs to relaxed speech among friends (informal) — you would not write it in an email. To decline something politely, front it with ei:

For the reply to a thank-you (ole hyvä, ei kestä), see the companion page on responding to thanks.

Thanking FOR something: the elative case

Here is the point English speakers most often get wrong. When you thank someone for a specific thing, Finnish does not use a preposition. Instead the thing you are thankful for goes into the elative case — the ending -sta / -stä, literally "out of / from":

There is no word answering to English "for" here — the case ending is the "for." So it is kiitos avusta, never kiitos varten apu or kiitos apu. A couple of these forms involve sound changes worth flagging so you can trust them:

• apu → avusta ("help"): the p softens to v in the weak grade (consonant gradation), giving the stem avu-, then -sta.
• ruoka → ruoasta ("food"): the k drops out entirely in the weak grade (ruo-a-), so you get ruoasta (you will also hear the colloquial spelling ruuasta).

The plural intensifier keeps back-vowel harmony because the stem kiitos contains the back vowel o: kiitoksia (with -a, not -ä). This is worth memorising as a fixed unit, since the ii might tempt you toward a front-vowel ending.

Why English speakers get this wrong

Two habits carry over from English. First, learners expect a stand-alone "please" and feel that a sentence without one is impolite — so they either invent a word or leave requests sounding bare. The fix is to internalise that kiitos (on orders) and the conditional (on fuller requests) are Finnish "please"; nothing is missing.

Second, English builds "thanks for the help" with a preposition, and learners look for a Finnish equivalent of for. Finnish instead marks the relationship on the noun with the elative ending. Train yourself to say kiitos and then reach straight for -sta / -stä on the thing you are thanking for — no connecting word in between.

Common Mistakes

For more on the missing "please," see the common 'please' mistake.

Key Takeaways

• kiitos means both "thank you" and, appended to an order, the nearest thing to "please."
• Finnish has no separate word for "please": use kiitos on short orders, the conditional on fuller requests.
• Thanking for something takes the elative case (-sta / -stä), with no preposition: kiitos avusta, kiitos ruoasta.
• Intensify with kiitos paljon or paljon kiitoksia; the casual clip is kiitti (informal).
• Watch the sound changes: apu → avusta (p→v), ruoka → ruoasta (k→zero), and the fixed back-harmony plural kiitoksia.