A Finnish guide to tourists

UPDATE 1 - A new way to spell Ä and Ö! LEGIT!

If you ever visit Finland and want to know a bit of our complex language, keep this in mind.
Many Finns understand English. Still, some of us might not. If you want to give it a try, here's a few useful words and sentences. Try to pronounce them as they're written (the way we talk).

Also, we Finns use Äs and Ös.
Ä sounds like the A in "last".
Ö sounds like the I in "first".

Greetings:
Hei. (Hi.)
Moi. (a bit more informal "hei", used with friends)
Terve! (Hello!)
Päivää! / Hyvää päivää! (Good day!)
Iltaa! / Hyvää iltaa! (Good evening!)

Kuinka(s) menee? (How is it going? / How are you doing?)
Miten (sinulla) menee? (How is it going? / How are you doing?)

Minulla menee hyvin. (I'm doing fine.)
Huono päivä... (A bad day...)
Ihan hyvin, entäs sinulla? (Just fine, what about you?)

Asking for something:
Anteeksi... (Excuse me...)
Haittaako jos kysyn jotain? (Mind if I ask something?)

Puhutko englantia? (Do you speak English?)

Missä on... (Where's the...)
- vessa? (toilet? / bathroom?)
- keittiö? (kitchen?)
- eteinen? (entrance?)
- hotelli? (hotel?)
- puhelin? (telephone?)
- elokuvateatteri? / leffateatteri? (cinema? / movie theater?)
- rautatieasema? / juna-asema? (train station?)
- kauppa? (store?)
- sairaala? (hospital?)

Another way to say "Where's this?" is to swap the places of "on?" and the location. For example:
Missä vessa on?

Giving directions:
Vasemmalle... (To the left...)
Suoraan eteenpäin... (Go forward...)
Oikealle... (To the right...)

...lta / ...sta (from...)
EXAMPLE: Sairaalalta (from the hospital)
EXAMPLE P2: Sairaalasta eteenpäin (Go forward from the hospital)

Thanking:
Kiitos. (Thank you.)
Kiitti. (Thanks.)
Kiitos (todella) paljon. (Thank you very much.)

Leaving:
Hei hei. (Bye bye.)
Näkemiin! (See you!)
Moi moi. (Bye bye, used with acquaintances)



If you want to sound a bit more fluent, try to extend the double letters as you talk. It's a bit more Finnish.

*Ääkköset are a twist from our word for alphabet, aakkoset. We use it for ä and ö only. (?)

One more thing, don't trust Google Translator. You never know.

That's all for now.