tervehtiä

Tervehtiä is a Finnish verb meaning to greet or to pay greetings to someone. The action is typically directed at another person or group and can refer to saying hello, acknowledging someone, or initiating social contact. It is used in a wide range of contexts, from casual everyday encounters to more formal salutations.

In usage, tervehtiä is transitive and most often combined with a recipient. For example, "Hän tervehti minua ystävällisesti" means "He/she greeted me kindly." The verb can describe both brief, simple greetings and more elaborate exchanges of politeness. Typical tense forms include tervehtii for the present tense (he/she greets) and tervehti for the past tense (he/she greeted).

The infinitive form is tervehtiä. Related noun forms include tervehdyss or tervehdyksen, depending on grammatical case, and tervehdyksiä in plural forms. The related noun tervehdyks, or more commonly tervehdyksen and tervehdyksenä, refers to a greeting itself or the act of greeting. The language also uses the adjective tervehdyksellinen in some descriptive or literary contexts, though this is relatively rare.

Etymologically, tervehtiä is connected to tervehdyssaskeigen meaning greeting, with the root linked to terve, reflecting the historical association of greetings with wishing health. In contemporary Finnish, tervehtiä remains a standard, everyday verb used to describe the social act of greeting others in various social settings.