Finnish stands apart from its Scandinavian neighbours — it's not a Germanic language at all, but a Finno-Ugric one, related distantly to Estonian and Hungarian rather than Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian. That shows up immediately in the greetings: nothing here looks like "hej." Here's how to say hello, good morning, and how are you in Finnish, with pronunciation notes for a language that's famously phonetic but unfamiliar to most English speakers.
Saying Hello: Hei and Moi
- Hei — hello / hi (the standard, all-purpose greeting, pronounced "hey")
- Moi — a casual, friendly alternative to "hei," roughly equivalent to "hi" in tone
- Terve — a slightly more traditional, hearty greeting, literally related to the word for "healthy" (similar in spirit to how some languages use health-related greetings)
- Moro — a very casual, colloquial greeting, especially common in certain regions
One quirk worth knowing: Finns commonly double up their goodbyes rather than their hellos — "moi moi" is a very common way to say goodbye, not hello, which can confuse learners who assume doubling a greeting word always means "hi."
Good Morning and Other Time-Based Greetings
- Huomenta / Hyvää huomenta — good morning (the shorter "huomenta" is common casually; "hyvää huomenta" is the fuller, slightly more formal version)
- Hyvää päivää — good day/afternoon
- Hyvää iltaa — good evening
- Hyvää yötä — good night
Finnish pronunciation is famously consistent — every letter is pronounced, vowel length and consonant length both matter (a double letter is genuinely held twice as long as a single one), and stress always falls on the first syllable of a word. This makes Finnish easier to pronounce accurately once you learn the system, even though the vocabulary itself shares almost nothing with English or the Scandinavian languages.
How Are You?
The standard question is "Mitä kuuluu?" — literally "what belongs/what's up," roughly equivalent to "how are you" or "what's new." A slightly more direct alternative is "Miten menee?" ("how's it going").
Common responses:
- Hyvää, kiitos — good, thanks
- Ihan hyvää — pretty good
- Ei kovin hyvää — not very good
- Entä sinulle? — and you? (returning the question)
Introducing Yourself
- Minun nimeni on … — my name is … (a shorter, very common alternative is simply "Olen …" — "I am …")
- Mikä sinun nimesi on? — what's your name?
- Hauska tavata — nice to meet you
- Mistä olet kotoisin? — where are you from?
Saying Goodbye
- Näkemiin — goodbye (the standard, slightly formal farewell)
- Moi moi / Hei hei — bye bye (casual, and the more common everyday choice)
- Nähdään — see you
Sample Conversation
A: Hei! Olen Anna.
B: Hei Anna! Olen Mikko. Hauska tavata.
A: Samoin! Mitä kuuluu?
B: Hyvää, kiitos. Entä sinulle?
A: Ihan hyvää, kiitos!
Translation: "Hi! I'm Anna." / "Hi Anna! I'm Mikko. Nice to meet you." / "Likewise! How are you?" / "Good, thanks. And you?" / "Pretty good, thanks!"
Getting comfortable with these basic greetings is the natural first step before tackling Finnish's famously complex case system — and unlike the grammar, greetings are something you can genuinely master in a single sitting.