When I studied Finnish with the Assimil course, I remember having learnt “Näkemiin” for “Good-bye”, but I’ve never heard of “Hyvästi”? What’s the difference between the two?
Kiitos,
Michele
‘Hyvästi’ is like ‘Farewell’.
The content that I’m uploading was created in 1987, so it’s a bit dated. That’s why I translated the word as ‘farewell’, because ‘farewell’ is a bit dated too (in my opinion).
Edit - I’ve added translations onto these lessons, and I think I will do this for all the beginner lessons.
Sorry, Peter. I hadn’t noticed the translation bar.
@Alex/Mark: would it be possible to make translations more visible?
Mikebond – how did you find Assimil Finnish? Did you go through the whole book? How long (in hours?) did it take you and how far did you get? I will be using the book next month as part of this challenge (Accelerated Challenge (Feb) - Finnish (General discussion) Language Learning Forum).
I read the whole book at least once, but I’m not sure I completed the “second wave” (i.e. re-reading the first 50 lessons while progressing with the second half of the book).
I didn’t get very far, though. One thing may have been that I didn’t devote enough time to it (I was attending university) and another thing is that I’m used to memorize noun declensions and verb conjugations, not to absorb them passively. Having one case explained every week didn’t work for me. Anyway, I think the quality of the course is quite good.
Good luck for your challenge!
I understand hyvästi to have negative connotations associated with war times when wives told their husbands, “Hyvästi” and so many did not return home alive. In my many years of speaking Finnish, I might be able to remember one instance when it was used in spoken language.
I had the same query. Thanks
Yes, hyvästi feels quite old fashioned, and permanent. Maybe older people use it more, or in some Finnish dialects. I think I’ve only used it as a joke, and not very often, or it wouldn’t be funny. 
Sometimes we say näkemiin. When I say bye, I think I usually say “Moikka”, or “Moi moi” or “Nähään” or “Nähdään” or “Nähdään taas.”.
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