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Finnish

### Finnish Has Three Ways to Say Hi

**Hei** is the safe one. It works with anybody — a stranger, a shop assistant, your teacher, your friend — and if you learn only one greeting, learn this.

**Moi** is casual and extremely common among friends and younger speakers. **Terve** is also casual, a little more blunt, and very Finnish.

None of the three is rude. Finnish does not split its greetings by politeness the way many languages do — the formal/informal line runs through **sinä** and **te** instead, not through **hei**.

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### Greetings for the Time of Day

| formula | when | literally |
|---|---|---|
| **hyvää huomenta** | morning | good morning |
| **hyvää päivää** | daytime | good day |
| **hyvää iltaa** | evening | good evening |
| **hyvää yötä** | going to bed | good night |

All four are in the **partitive** case — *hyvää*, not *hyvä* — because they are the leftovers of a longer wish ("[I wish you] a good day"). You do not need the grammar yet; learn each as one frozen unit.

And note the last one. **Hyvää yötä** is not a greeting. Like English *good night*, it is what you say to someone on their way to sleep, never to someone arriving.

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### Saying Goodbye

**Näkemiin** is the neutral farewell — literally "until seeing". **Heippa** is its casual counterpart, pairing with **moi**.

**Nähdään** means "see you" — literally "we will be seen". It promises a next time, so it is warmer than **näkemiin** and you would not use it with someone you will never meet again.

{{item:903925}}

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### Welcoming Somebody

**Tervetuloa** is one word, and it is everywhere in Finland — on doormats, on shop doors, at the airport. It shares its root with **terve**.

{{item:903934}}

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

Partitive plural (-ita / -itä)

Question	Answer
hi, hello	hei
Hi! I am a teacher.	Hei! Minä olen opettaja.
Hi, who are you?	Hei, kuka sinä olet?
hi (casual)	moi
Hi! Are you a student?	Moi! Oletko sinä opiskelija?
Hi! We are at the cafe.	Moi! Me olemme kahvilassa.
hi, hey (casual)	terve
Hey! Are you tired?	Terve! Oletko sinä väsynyt?
Hey, man! Where do you live?	Terve, mies! Missä sinä asut?
good morning	hyvää huomenta
Good morning! I am still tired.	Hyvää huomenta! Minä olen vielä väsynyt.
Good morning, teacher!	Hyvää huomenta, opettaja!
good day, good afternoon	hyvää päivää
Good day! Is this a school?	Hyvää päivää! Onko tämä koulu?
Good day, doctor!	Hyvää päivää, lääkäri!
good evening	hyvää iltaa
Good evening! We are at home.	Hyvää iltaa! Me olemme kotona.
Good evening, woman and man!	Hyvää iltaa, nainen ja mies!
good night (to someone going to bed)	hyvää yötä
Good night! I am tired.	Hyvää yötä! Minä olen väsynyt.
Good night, girl and boy!	Hyvää yötä, tyttö ja poika!
goodbye	näkemiin
Goodbye, teacher!	Näkemiin, opettaja!
Goodbye! We are outside now.	Näkemiin! Me olemme nyt ulkona.
bye (casual)	heippa
Bye! I am at the shop.	Heippa! Minä olen kaupassa.
Bye, friend!	Heippa, ystävä!
see you	nähdään
See you! You are a good friend.	Nähdään! Sinä olet hyvä ystävä.
See you! We are at school.	Nähdään! Me olemme koulussa.
welcome	tervetuloa
Welcome! This is a new school.	Tervetuloa! Tämä on uusi koulu.
Welcome, student!	Tervetuloa, opiskelija!
farewell (a final goodbye)	hyvästi
Farewell, old friend!	Hyvästi, vanha ystävä!
Goodbye is easy, but farewell is hard.	Näkemiin on helppo, mutta hyvästi on vaikea.
rest of the day (hyvää päivänjatkoa! = have a nice day!)	päivänjatko
Have a nice rest of your day!	Hyvää päivänjatkoa!
Goodbye and have a nice rest of your day!	Näkemiin ja hyvää päivänjatkoa!

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