pärjäilkää: use and etymology

Nikama · Post by **Nikama** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:53 pm

Hello,

I was looking for an informal, fairly neutral way to say 'take care' or Italian 'ciao' at the end of a mail. This site suggests pärjäilkää. Two questions. (1) Is this used a lot, and how/when? (2) What does it mean literally?

Apparently pärjätä means to 'manage', and words with ilk- as a root seem to be 'bad' things... so something like 'may you handle problems well' ??

thanks

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jahasjahas · Post by **jahasjahas** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:50 pm

"Pärjäilkää" is the second person plural imperative form of "pärjäillä". (So there's no ilk- root there.) "Pärjäillä" is the frequentative form of "pärjätä" (to be fine, to manage).

You'd use the second person plural if you're writing to several people or being formal and polite (teitittely). The second person singular, "pärjäile", would be appropriate if you're writing to one person.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend using it, since to me it conveys a sort of non-committal "eh, try to take care" instead of the honest and neutral "take care" you're looking for.

I can't think of any better suggestions right now. Anyone?

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:01 pm

Tsau!

Nikama · Post by **Nikama** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:12 pm

Thanks for the clarification, jahasjahas!

As to what one is actually trying to say, it's a bit subtle... American take care can be used very offhand, I think, not necessarily expressing any deep concern about the other person's self-preservation. Though it's a nice sentiment to express if you do mean it. Then ciao in Italian or servus in German has entirely lost its litteral meaning. If you're not too familiar with the language it may be hard to tell: e.g. could I have used nähdään, given that it's in a mail to a person I may never actually see?

As to tsau, it reminded me of Arja Saijonmaa singing 'Bella ciao'. Though I guess her pronunciation is fairly Italian-like (but I'm not Italian so not the best judge). Is tsau used often in Finland?

Edit: it was this version I heard earlier: there the choir actually sings a pretty firm tsau

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:24 pm

Well, "tsau" is very 50-60 slang. More as a hello " tsaukki taukit"

As a letter written goodbye, I'd use "Terveisin"
Its boring but business&casual "Parhain Terveisin" is a wee bit formal.

Relative usage is "Regards", "Best Regards" or "MfG" in German...

NOW if you want to be funny, we gots loads

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