--- title: "anteeks" book_form: "anteeksi" translation: "Sorry. Excuse me. Pardon?" type: "word" category: "puhekieli" url: "https://finnishirl.com/words/anteeks" canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/words/anteeks" published: "2026-10-01" updated: "2026-10-01" author: "Andrey the Nomad" site: "Finnish IRL" license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip" --- # anteeks URL: https://finnishirl.com/words/anteeks Book form (kirjakieli): anteeksi Translation: Sorry. Excuse me. Pardon? Pronunciation: /ˈɑnteːks/ Category: puhekieli Archetypes: move, survival Region: Finland Register: neutral, used constantly Literal meaning: "For giving" - from antaa, to give, in the sense of granting forgiveness. Tone and safety: Always safe as an excuse-me. As an apology it can be overdone - once is enough. Published: 2026-10-01 Quick answer: - Anteeks is the spoken form of anteeksi. It covers sorry, excuse me, and pardon - three English words in one. - The final -i drops in ordinary speech, which is why the word you learned can be hard to catch. - Say it to get past someone, to get attention, to apologise, and to ask someone to repeat themselves. What it means: - Anteeks does three jobs English splits between three words: sorry, excuse me, and pardon. It is the politeness word you will reach for most. - It comes from antaa, to give, in the sense of forgiveness being granted. - Three jobs at once: apologising, getting past someone in a shop aisle, and asking someone to say that again. Tone and situation separate them, not different words. Book form vs spoken form: - Anteeksi is the written form. In speech the final vowel falls away and you get anteeks - the same apocope that gives you yks and kaks for yksi and kaksi, viis for viisi, sit for sitten and viel for vielä. - This is one of the reasons ordinary Finnish is so hard to catch: the ends of words go missing, and the words you were taught are exactly the ones that lose them. If you learned anteeksi and cannot hear anteeks, the problem is not vocabulary. - Anteeksi is not the only option. For small apologies, under-40s reach for the English loan sori at least as often. It sounds lighter, closer to "oops". It does not do the other two jobs: sori never means excuse-me or pardon. How Finns use it: - Passing someone in a narrow aisle: anteeks, said without stopping, often with a hand slightly raised. - Getting a stranger's attention: anteeks, voisinks mä kysyä yhtä juttua, and the conditional voisinks is what makes it a request rather than a demand. - Not hearing something: anteeks? on a rising tone, which is the standard "pardon?". - A real apology usually comes with a reason or a repair attached, the same way a refusal does. Anteeks, mä en huomannu - sorry, I didn't notice. Tone and safety: - Impossible to overdo in the getting-past sense. Genuinely possible to overdo as an apology: repeated, escalating apologising for small things reads as anxious rather than polite, and Finns will not know what to do with it. - The bigger risk runs the other way. Saying nothing while pushing past someone is read as rudeness, and it is the most common way a newcomer accidentally seems cold. Common mistake: - Waiting to have the whole sentence ready before speaking. Anteeks on its own is a complete, correct utterance and it buys you the moment you need. - Using anteeksi where sori fits better, or the reverse. For bumping a chair, sori. For being an hour late, anteeksi. Examples: - Anteeks, pääseeks tästä ohi? - Sorry, can I get past here? (written: Anteeksi, pääseekö tästä ohi?) - Anteeks? En kuullu. - Sorry? I didn't hear. (written: Anteeksi? En kuullut.) - Anteeks, mä en huomannu sua. - Sorry, I didn't see you. (written: Anteeksi, en huomannut sinua.) Mini dialogue: A: Anteeks, onks tää paikka vapaa? B: On on. A: Kiitos. B: Eipä mitään. FAQ: Q: How do you say sorry in Finnish? A: Anteeksi, or anteeks in speech. Under-40s often use the loan sori for small things. Q: Why do Finns say anteeks and not anteeksi? A: The final -i drops in ordinary speech. It is a general feature of spoken Finnish, not carelessness, and it affects many of the words a course teaches in full. Q: What is the difference between anteeks and sori? A: Sori is lighter, closer to "oops", and is a loan from English. Anteeksi is the fuller apology and also does the work of "excuse me" and "pardon". Q: How do you say excuse me in Finnish to get past someone? A: Anteeks, usually without stopping. Adding pääsisinkö ohi - "could I get past" - makes it a full request. Q: How do you say pardon in Finnish? A: Anteeks? on a rising tone. Among friends, Häh? and Täh? are what people actually say. Mitä? works too, though a bare mitä can sound blunt with someone you don't know. Related words: sori, kiitos, ei-se-mitaan Sources: - VISK § 1645 - what directives are (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1645 - VISK § 1662 - the conditional in a question: tulisitteko jo (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1662 - Kohtelias kehotus tai pyyntö: kysymysmuoto (Kielitoimiston ohjepankki, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kielitoimistonohjepankki.fi/ohje/kohtelias-kehotus-tai-pyynto-kysymysmuoto-allekirjoitatko-tamankin-viela/ - VISK § 1201 - answering with a verb or a particle (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1201 - Kielitoimiston sanakirja: anteeksi, antaa (Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/#/anteeksi