Finnish IRL
terveydeksi - a woman with a coffee cup in an office kitchen saying it to a colleague who has just sneezed into his elbow

terveydeksi

/ˈterveydeksi/

For your health. You thanked them for the coffee. Why is somebody wishing you health?

Quick answer

Terveydeksi means for your health. It answers a sneeze, and it answers a thank-you for something that was eaten or drunk.

  • The second use is the one nobody warns you about. You say kiitos for the coffee and it comes straight back at you, where English would say you're welcome.
  • Terveys is health, and the translative ending -ksi turns it into for health. There is no verb in it. Finnish builds several of its fixed wishes this way.
  • Where it came from is not settled, and two Finnish institutions disagree. One account has it built on the model of other languages, with German (für) Gesundheit as the template; the other has it as a protective wish of its own, traced back through Latin prosit. Prosit is still what you will hear after a sneeze on the Swedish-speaking coast.

What terveydeksi means

May it be for your health. It answers a sneeze, and it answers a thank-you for something that was eaten or drunk.

The second use catches learners out. You finish the coffee, you say kiitos, and the answer comes back as a word built out of health.

There is no verb and no subject. The meaning is carried by -ksi on the end of a noun, the same ending that makes onneksi and kiitokseksi.

Who says terveydeksi to whom

From To How it lands
FromAnyone nearby ToAnyone who has just sneezed How it landsStrangers included, though on a bus or a tram most people say nothing and nobody minds.
FromA host ToA guest who has said kiitos How it landsThe core use at home. It answers the thanks rather than opening anything.
FromCanteen staff ToA customer How it landsAfter the customer has thanked them for the meal, not before. The before-slot belongs to hyvää ruokahalua. Behind a café counter it is ole hyvä far more often.
FromA colleague ToA colleague How it landsCommon in a small office and rare in a big one. In an open-plan room a sneeze usually goes unanswered.
FromA parent ToA child How it landsWhere Finnish children learn it. Some of the warmth in it comes from that.

How Finns actually use terveydeksi

After a sneeze, from whoever is nearest. It is normal to hear it and normal to hear nothing: a sneeze in an open-plan office, on a tram or among strangers often passes with nobody saying anything, and that silence is not a judgement on your sneeze.

Kiitos at the end of a meal or a coffee, and this comes straight back from whoever made it, in the slot English fills with you're welcome. It leans older: a host in their sixties produces it without thinking, while a twenty-something is as likely to answer ei kestä or just joo.

In a lunch canteen, from the staff when a customer thanks them for the meal on the way out. Behind a café counter it is rarer, and a barista handing a coffee over answers kiitos with ole hyvä.

Rarely written. It belongs to the moment it happens in, and the one place it survives in text is the thank-you message the morning after somebody fed you.

The two jobs terveydeksi does

  • Terveydeksi! Onks sulla flunssa? Bless you! Have you got a cold? After a sneeze, from whoever is nearest, with the question tacked on.
  • - Kiitos ruoasta. - Terveydeksi. "Thanks for the food." "You're welcome." The second job, and the one that catches learners out. It answers the thanks at the end.

Explaining terveydeksi, and where it is not said

  • Sano terveydeksi, jos joku aivastaa. Say terveydeksi if somebody sneezes. Explaining it to somebody who has just arrived and heard it twice.
  • Terveydeksi sanotaan harvemmin ratikassa ku kotona. You hear terveydeksi less often on the tram than at home. A sneeze among strangers often passes with nobody saying anything, and that is not a judgement.

What to say back to terveydeksi

  • You sneezed and somebody said it. Kiitos. Thanks.
  • Same, among people your own age. Kiitti. Cheers.
  • You said it, they thanked you back, and you feel like closing the loop. Most people just do not. Ei kestä. Don't mention it.
  • You are the host and would rather not put health in it. Ole hyvä. You're welcome.

terveydeksi, step by step

  1. You Kiitos kahvista.

    Thanks for the coffee.

    Said standing up, on the way out. The thanks is what triggers everything after it.

  2. Them Terveydeksi.

    You're welcome.

    One word, no verb. English hears a health wish; Finnish hears the ordinary answer to thanks at a table.

  3. You Oliks tää sun paahtama?

    Did you roast this yourself?

  4. Them Joo. Otin kilon viime viikolla.

    Yeah. I got a kilo last week.

    The formula closed the thanks and the conversation carried on past it.

terveydeksi in the group chat

The morning after a dinner

Kiitos eilisestä, se lohi oli tosi hyvää Thanks for last night, the salmon was really good
Terveydeksi! Reseptin saa jos haluut You're welcome! You can have the recipe if you want
Joo kiitos. Ens kerta meillä Yes please. Next time at ours

terveydeksi in a conversation

Atsiuh!
Terveydeksi.
Kiitos. Toi pöly tuolla käytävällä.
Nii, mäkin aivastin äsken.

The mistake everyone makes with terveydeksi

Raising a glass with it. Finnish has kippis for that, and something with health in it sounds like a translation of a toast from another language.

Waiting for the food version to come from the cook before the meal. That slot is hyvää ruokahalua; this one answers the thanks at the end.

Saying it when somebody thanks you for something that was not eaten. Thanks for a lift or a favour takes ei kestä or ole hyvä, and health has no business in either.

Answering a sneeze with it and then expecting a conversation. The exchange is two words long and closes itself.

terveydeksi in writing, and where it lands wrong

  • - Kiitos eilisestä. - Terveydeksi! "Thanks for last night." "You're welcome!" The one place it survives in writing: the message the morning after somebody fed you.
  • Lasia nostaessa se on kippis, ei terveydeksi. Raising a glass it's kippis, not terveydeksi. The one place it lands wrong. Something with health in it reads as a translated toast.

Questions people ask about terveydeksi

What does terveydeksi mean?

For your health. It is what Finns say when somebody sneezes, and also what a host says when somebody thanks them for food or drink.

Is terveydeksi a toast?

No. Raising a glass takes kippis, or malja if the occasion is formal. Using this one with a glass in hand sounds like a toast carried over from another language.

What do I say back?

Kiitos. It is a wish like any other, and thanks is the whole reply.

Do Finns always say something when you sneeze?

No. It is normal to hear it and normal to hear nothing, particularly in a large room or among strangers. Silence there is not a judgement on your sneeze.

Is it the same as hyvää ruokahalua?

No, and the two sit at opposite ends of the meal. Hyvää ruokahalua is said before people eat. This one answers the thanks afterwards.

Why does it end in -ksi?

It is the translative case on terveys, health - roughly into health, or for health. Finnish builds several fixed wishes this way, with a case ending doing the work a verb would do in English.

Is terveydeksi a bad word?

Safe with anyone. The one place it lands wrong is a raised glass.

kiitos - a waitress setting a beer down for an older man on a summer lake terrace
kiitos Finnish has no word for please, and this is what fills the gap
kippis - two women touching beer glasses across a table on a Finnish summer terrace, a lake and birches behind them in the late evening light
kippis The glass goes over your shoulder before the shot goes down
moi - a woman at a Finnish supermarket checkout giving the smallest possible nod to the man stepping into the queue behind her
moi Say it once and it is hello, say it twice and you are leaving
anteeks - a young man squeezing past an older woman in a narrow Finnish supermarket aisle with one hand slightly raised, melting snow tracked across the floor
anteeks written anteeksi The most-used politeness word in the country, and the final letter falls off
ei se mitään - an older woman waving off an apology from a young man who has knocked a cup over, already reaching for a cloth
ei se mitään The reply to an apology, and to a disaster, in the same four words
torilla tavataan - a cheering crowd in blue and white filling Helsinki's Kauppatori market square after a Finland win, flags up around the Havis Amanda fountain
torilla tavataan What Finland posts when Finland wins something

Sources for terveydeksi

  1. Terveydeksi! - tiesitkö, miksi aivastamiseen reagoidaan näin? MTV Uutiset - Kirsi-Maria Nummila, docent of Finnish at the Finnish Literature Society, on the expression being formed on the model of other languages, with German (für) Gesundheit as the likely template.
  2. Bless you on käännetty terveydeksi Kysy kirjastonhoitajalta - The competing account, answered by Espoo library in October 2021: a protective wish in its own right, traced through Latin prosit and Suomalainen fraasisanakirja. The two readings are why this page does not state an origin.
  3. Terve vaan ja terveydeksi Kirkko ja kaupunki - Matti Miestamo, professor of general linguistics at the University of Helsinki, on health wishes as a cross-linguistic habit rather than a Finnish peculiarity. Hanna Antila, January 2021.
  4. Kielitoimiston sanakirja: terveydeksi Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The entry, and the senses it records for the word.
  5. VISK § 1235: Paikallissijat Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The case system this sits inside, and the translative among the cases that mark a result or an end state.
  6. Puhetta pitäjistä Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Kotus's dialect recordings, for anyone wanting to hear how far the formulas in this area vary across the country.

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