tervetuloa!
The Finnish word for "welcome" is tervetuloa!
Tervetuloa! is the standard greeting used when someone arrives. You can use it to welcome people to specific places, such as saying Tervetuloa kotiin! for "Welcome home!" or Tervetuloa meidän luoksemme! to say "Welcome to our place/to us!"
Meaning: greeting given upon someone's arrival (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The word tervetuloa is a compound of terve, which means "healthy" or "well" and tuloa, which means "arrival" or "coming".
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
While tervetuloa! is the standalone exclamation used as a greeting, the form tervetulleeksi is used when paired with the verb toivottaa (to wish) to express the act of wishing someone welcome.
Did you know?
- While tervetuloa greets a visitor, the Finnish response to 'thank you' is ole hyvä, which literally means 'be good'.
- In Finland, a 'welcome' greeting is often accompanied by a firm handshake and direct eye contact, but hugging is generally reserved for very close friends and family.
- Finnish uses the word terve to mean 'healthy', but it also shares a distant linguistic relationship with the Estonian word tervis, which also links health to greetings.
Examples in context
- Tervetuloa!Welcome.This example shows the use of tervetuloa! as a standalone greeting.Tatoeba #1023491 by Anteroinen, translation #138919 by CM
- Tervetuloa! Miten voin auttaa?Welcome! How can I assist you?
- Tervetuloa Suomen ihanaan maailmaan!Welcome to the wonderful world of Finland!
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Juho greets Anna at his front door.
- JuhoHei Anna, tervetuloa!Hi Anna, welcome!
- AnnaKiitos paljon!Thank you very much!
- JuhoTule sisään.Come inside.
- AnnaKiitos, Juho.Thanks, Juho.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “welcome” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
