---
title: "kiitos"
translation: "Thanks. Thank you."
type: "word"
category: "greeting"
url: "https://finnishirl.com/words/kiitos"
canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/words/kiitos"
published: "2026-10-01"
updated: "2026-10-01"
author: "Andrey the Nomad"
site: "Finnish IRL"
license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip"
---

# kiitos
URL: https://finnishirl.com/words/kiitos
Translation: Thanks. Thank you.
Pronunciation: /ˈkiːtos/
Category: greeting
Archetypes: move, survival
Region: Finland
Register: neutral, used with everyone
Literal meaning: Thanks.
Tone and safety: Always safe. Under-using it reads as cold; over-using it reads as nervous.
Published: 2026-10-01

Quick answer:
- Kiitos means thanks, and it is the word Finns attach to a request where English would use please.
- Finnish has no single word for please. Politeness is carried by the conditional - saisinko, voisitko, haluaisin - plus kiitos.
- Kiitos is not itself "please": it is thanks, placed where English puts please.

What it means:
- Kiitos is thank you. Every course teaches it in the first hour, and that part is not the interesting part.
- The interesting part is what it is doing at the end of a request. Kahvi, kiitos is "a coffee, thanks" - and it is how you ask for a coffee, because there is no separate word to put there.

Book form vs spoken form:
- The word does not change between registers. What changes is what you put around it: kiitti among friends, kiitos paljon or kiitti vaan when you want to add weight.
- Kiitos is often described online as meaning "please". It does not. It means thanks. It sits in the slot English fills with please, which is a different statement, and the difference shows the moment you try to build a polite sentence out of kiitos alone.

How Finns use it:
- The real politeness in Finnish is grammatical, not lexical. The conditional - the -isi- forms - is what softens a request: saisinko ("could I have"), voisitko ("could you"), haluaisin ("I would like"). Haluan kahvia is a plain statement of want; haluaisin kahvia is a request. The comprehensive grammar treats the conditional in a question as a standard, conventionalised way of making a polite request.
- So the full move is often both: the conditional does the softening and kiitos closes it. Saisinko yhden kahvin, kiitos.
- It is also what many people say getting off a bus, though in Helsinki you leave by the rear doors, so it happens far more in smaller towns and on long-distance coaches than in the capital.

Tone and safety:
- There is no way to be rude with kiitos. There is a way to sound anxious: stacking it, repeating it, adding it to every clause. Finns use it once, clearly, and stop.
- Leaving it out is the more common foreign error, and it does register, not as rudeness exactly, but as someone who has not noticed the exchange happening.

Common mistake:
- Learning kiitos as "please" and then producing requests with no conditional in them. Anna se, kiitos is grammatical and lands as an instruction with a thank-you attached. Saisinko sen is a request.

Examples:
- Kahvi, kiitos. - A coffee, please.
- Kiitti, moi! - Thanks, bye! (written: Kiitos, hei.)
- Voisitko auttaa hetken? - Could you help for a moment?

Mini dialogue:
A: Saisinko yhden kahvin?
B: Joo, tuleeko muuta?
A: Ei kiitos.
B: Neljä viiskyt.
A: Kiitos.

FAQ:
Q: What does kiitos mean?
A: Thank you. It is also the word Finns put at the end of a request, in the slot English fills with "please".

Q: Is there a word for please in Finnish?
A: No single word. Politeness is carried by the conditional - saisinko, voisitko, haluaisin - and kiitos is attached to close the request.

Q: How do you say thank you very much in Finnish?
A: Kiitos paljon, or kiitos oikein paljon if you want to weight it further. Among friends, kiitti or kiitti vaan.

Q: How do you pronounce kiitos?
A: KEE-tos, stress on the first syllable. The double i is held roughly twice as long as a single one - kiitos, not kitos, which is a different sound entirely.

Q: Do Finns say kiitos to the bus driver?
A: In smaller towns and on long-distance coaches, often - said over the shoulder without stopping. In Helsinki you exit by the rear doors, so it barely arises.

Related words: moi, kippis, mita-kuuluu, puhutko-englantia, anteeks

Sources:
- VISK § 1662 - the conditional in a question: tulisitteko jo (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1662
- VISK § 1645 - what directives are (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1645
- Kohtelias kehotus tai pyyntö: kysymysmuoto (Kielitoimiston ohjepankki, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kielitoimistonohjepankki.fi/ohje/kohtelias-kehotus-tai-pyynto-kysymysmuoto-allekirjoitatko-tamankin-viela/
- Kielitoimiston sanakirja: kiitos (Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/#/kiitos
- VISK § 1201 - answering with a verb or a particle (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1201