Basic introduction

[Rob A.]

....

Hyvästi....Well, how and when would you use this expression...it sounds like ...."Goodly"....

Hyvästi is the kind of cold-shoulder goodbye you get if you have offended someone. For example, imagine a man cheating on his wife and the wife finding out about it, wanting to break up. The wife, after having packed her things, could snap Hyvästi! to her ex at the door... with an ice-cold voice and with her eyes sparkling furiously. When you’re saying Hyvästi! the expectation is that you will hopefully never see again.

Jäähyväiset.....Hmmmm....this one seems "cute"... something about "Remain well".... Sounds almost like a Vulcan salutation... How would you use it???

Jäähyväiset is an emotional farewell. It’s a bit old-fashioned or at least romantically loaded word. Jäähyväiset is the name of this “farewell event”, rather than a thing to say to someone. I mean, you wouldn’t say Jäähyväiset! to anyone but you could say Jää hyvästi! which is where the name comes from. Or you could describe a situation or an event as being jäähyväiset (“a farewell”). A narrator could describe the farewell, as an event, as follows “Hän jätti hyvästit kotikaupungilleen ja rakastetulleen. [...Explanation of how he did it...] Ne olivat kauniit jäähyväiset.”

Thanks....and just to show you I've got the idea here are a couple of images....


Hyvästi.....



Jäähyväiset.....

[Jukka Aho]

— Riitelin vaimoni kanssa.
— Älä! Sanoiko hän pahasti?
— Ei. Hän sanoi ”Hyvästi!”

See also:

• Jäähyväiset hehkulampulle

[tuulen]

...Because of its formal tone, kuulemiin may sound somewhat stilted...

My excuse for such stilted language is that my introduction to Finnish came from Finns who moved to the US more than half a century ago.

One of the things that I like about Finland Forum is in bringing the past into the present.

Finland Forum is a wonderful website!

[maxxfi]

Is it just my interpretation or in nähdään, näkemiin, näkemisiin, kuulemiin, kuulemisiin
there is behind a hint of "I wish to see/hear you again" or "You're welcome to contact me again" ?

This just to differenciate from hyvästi (=Goodbye, I hope I won't see you ever again) and
hei, heippa, moi, moikka which instead are quite neutral greetings.

[EP]

nähdään, näkemiin, näkemisiin, kuulemiin, kuulemisiin

No hints, they are neutral.

hei, heippa, moi, moikka

They are colloquial, and usually not appropriate in formal situations. For example "moi, moikka" appeared in 1960´s, and only teenagers used them.

[Jukka Aho]

Is it just my interpretation or in nähdään, näkemiin, näkemisiin, kuulemiin, kuulemisiin
there is behind a hint of "I wish to see/hear you again" or "You're welcome to contact me again" ?

I guess the first one could be interpreted like that. The rest are quite neutral.

[Upphew]

I'd use hyvästi when one would use farewell in English.

[clausmarv]

Is it just my interpretation or in nähdään, näkemiin, näkemisiin, kuulemiin, kuulemisiin
there is behind a hint of "I wish to see/hear you again" or "You're welcome to contact me again" ?

I guess the first one could be interpreted like that. The rest are quite neutral.

Is it just my interpretation or in nähdään, näkemiin, näkemisiin, kuulemiin, kuulemisiin
there is behind a hint of "I wish to see/hear you again" or "You're welcome to contact me again" ?

I guess the first one could be interpreted like that. The rest are quite neutral.

Nowadays "nakemiin, näkemisiin, ..." are polite/neutral, but I've always thought that in a grammatical sense they actually mean "until we see each other next time".

Attetion! I'm just a native speaker with only upper secondary / "lukio" level knowledge of Finnish grammar and absolutely no information about theory of Finnish language, so there's a possibility that following deductions are incorrect. "Mutu-tietoa", in the other words .

[speculation]

"Näkemiin" is a illative form of more or less theoretical word "näkemä" (compare to "näkymä" (a view) -> "näkymiin" (illative), or "kuva" -> "kuviin"). "Näkemä" itself, as a substantive, is not used, but it could be derived from the verb "nähdä". If it really existed, it would probably be a substantive indicating a state/process of seeing something, emphasizing the importance of the thing(s) that has been seen. "näkemä" = ""what I saw" / "the mental picture of what I've seen". Maybe "näkemä" would be a historic word not any more use, existing just in some phrases/sayings/idioms? At least that would make sense, because one can say "näkemäsi koira oli ruskea", synonym for "koira jonka näit oli ruskea". (the dog (that) you saw was brown). In a technical level the sentence would mean "the dog (that was) in your 'näkemä' was brown".

Thus, according to my theory, "näkemiin" would have meant "into/until the situation where we can be in each other's 'näkymä's again" i. e. "until we see each other next time". Nowadays this "deeper" meaning would have been lost, and "näkemiin" had become just a formal way to say "good bye".

[end of speculation]

When "kuulemisiin" is just a neutral/formal way to finish a phone conservation, you can say "soittelemisiin", though this saying is little uncommon. It means that a) you'll call back or b) there will be another phone conservation in the near future. Also you can say "soitellaan", informal saying mostly used by grown-ups, which usually carries the message "This was a enjoyable conservation and and I would chat with you the whole day, but gotta go now, so you're welcome to call me back, but I may call you, too".

[Jukka Aho]

"Näkemä" itself, as a substantive,

Just as a friendly note – and to clear up any possible confusion – English-speakers prefer calling them “nouns”. (See here for more information.)

Thus, according to my theory, "näkemiin" would have meant "into/until the situation where we can be in each other's 'näkymä's again" i. e. "until we see each other next time". Nowadays this "deeper" meaning would have been lost, and "näkemiin" had become just a formal way to say "good bye".

I have no knowledge of what are the “official” views about the etymological origins of näkemiin, but your speculation sounds quite plausible and natural to me: after all, that’s how the word appears to a native speaker when taken in the most literal possible sense. (Actually, I already suggested something similar a bit earlier in this thread – see the comment below the first quoted segment.)