Finnish greetings
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== When you meet someone, you can say: ==
Hei! - The most common greeting
Moi! - Popular especially among young people
Terve! - Lit. Healthy!
Moro! - Used in the city of Tampere
Huomenta - Good morning!
(Hyvää) päivää. - Formal day time greeting
(Hyvää) iltaa. - Formal evening/night time greeting
Tere! / Terse! / Moo! - Slang greetings
== To ask how are "How are you?", you can say: ==
Mitä(s) (sinulle) kuuluu?
Possible answers (adjectives in partitive):
Hyvää, kiitos. - Fine, thanks.
Ei kovin hyvää. - Not so well.
Huonoa. - Lit. Bad.
Miten(s) (sinulla) menee? - How's it going?
Possible answers (adverbs):
Hyvin, kiitos. - Fine, thanks.
Ei kovin hyvin. - Not so well.
Huonosti. - Lit. Bad.
The s makes the question slightly more familiar.
Especially if someone has been sick, you can ask:
Mikä sinun vointisi on? - How's your health? How you're feeling?
Millainen vointi sinulla on? - How's you health? How you're feeling?
Possible answers (adjectives in nominative):
Hyvä, kiitos. - Good, thanks.
Ei kovin hyvä. - Not so good.
Entä sinulle/sinulla/sinun? - And you/yours?
Note: Finns don't except you to automatically answer Hyvää, kiitos. If you're not feeling ok, it's perfectly acceptable to say so. Also don't be surprised if a Finn, when asked this question, starts telling a long story about how they are feeling today.
== Other greetings: ==
Tervetuloa! - Welcome!
Tervetuloa takaisin! - Welcome back!
Hyvää huomenta. - Good morning.
Hyvää yötä. - Good night.
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