Hei, olen uusi työntekijä.

to be

Breakdown of Hei, olen uusi työntekijä.

• uusi: new
• työntekijä: the employee
• hei: hi; hello

Questions & Answers about Hei, olen uusi työntekijä.

Why does the sentence start with Hei? Is it just like Hi?

Yes. Hei is a very common Finnish greeting and usually corresponds to Hi or Hello in English.

A few useful notes:

• Hei is neutral and common in everyday speech.
• You can use it in both fairly casual and normal polite situations.
• In very informal speech, people also say Moi.

So Hei, olen uusi työntekijä. is a natural way to begin introducing yourself.

Why does it say olen and not minä olen?

Because Finnish often leaves out the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• olen = I am
• The ending -n tells you the subject is I

So:

• Minä olen uusi työntekijä. = I am a new employee.
• Olen uusi työntekijä. = also I am a new employee.

Both are correct, but omitting minä is very common and natural.

What form is olen?