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Lesson Transcript

Hei, minun nimeni on Paula. Hi everybody! I’m Paula.
Welcome to FinnishPod101.com’s “Suomea kolmessa minuutissa”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Finnish.
In the last lesson, we learned how to thank people by saying kiitos. In this lesson, we’ll learn some of the most common greetings used in Finland.
Ready? Let's get started!
The most used informal greeting is:
Hei!
[slowly] Hei.
Hei means “hi” or “hello”. We use it when we meet people -- friends, relatives, and even people we don't know.
We used this phrase in lesson 1, do you remember? Do you also remember what the formal way of greeting people is?
Hyvää päivää!
[slowly] Hyvää päivää
Literally, hyvää päivää means "good day". As a rule of thumb we can use hyvää päivää only during the daytime—from midday until early evening.
During the evening we say:
Hyvää iltaa!
[slowly] Hyvää iltaa.
Ilta is Finnish for “evening,” so hyvää iltaa means “good evening”.
Hyvää päivää and hyvää iltaa are used when we meet someone, but when we leave we don’t say these greetings again.
Instead, when leaving in a formal situation, Finnish people say:
Näkemiin.
[slowly] Näkemiin.
Näkemiin means “good-bye.”
In informal situations you can just say hei hei.
[slowly] Hei hei.
Finally, in Finnish we have an expression meaning “see you soon” which can be either formal or informal.
Nähdään pian!
[slowly] Nähdään pian.
Now you can greet people in many different ways in Finnish!
Let’s review them all again.
When greeting someone in an informal situation:
Hei!
When greeting someone in a formal situation:
Hyvää päivää or hyvää iltaa!
When leaving, in a formal situation:
Näkemiin!
When leaving in an informal situation:
Hei hei.
When leaving, no matter whether it's a formal or informal situation:
Nähdään pian!
It’s easy, right?
Now it’s time for Paula’s Points.
In formal situations, Finnish people commonly greet each other by shaking hands. But, if we meet someone we are very friendly with, we hug each other. Don’t be afraid to do it with your Finnish friends—it’s normal!
In the next lesson we’ll learn the meaning of the phrase puhutko englantia? Do you already know it? I'll tell you all about it in the next Suomea kolmessa minuutissa lesson.
Nähdään pian!

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