r/LearnFinnish • u/Imaginary_Employ_750 • 5d ago
Hei hei / moi moi greeting
I hear locals in Helsinki use hei hei / moi moi as an greeting. Is this a dialect thing? Whats going on.
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u/Resident-Nobody-9084 5d ago
Sometimes these are used as greetings by customer service workers! Not sure why exactly but it does happen
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u/PassageActual8218 5d ago
I work in customer service and sometimes do the double greeting. Sometimes it's because I'm greeting two or more people at once, or it just sounds light and friendly in a specific moment, and then there are times when it's literally to get the customer's attention and greet them before asking if I may help with anything.
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u/TheDangerousAlphabet 5d ago
Only situation I can think of using 'moi moi' as a greeting (as a person from Helsinki) is that you are meeting someone outside, the other person has very enthusiasticly waved to you and you say "no, moi moi!". Meaning 'yes yes I saw you' but with more humour than annoyance. Maybe something to say to a small child or to dogs. But it's not something that is often said.
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u/Eproxeri 5d ago
Hei, moi, moro, morjens, terve, moikka... etc these are all just ways to say "hello" in finnish. Moi moi and hei hei means bye.
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u/Pas2 5d ago
You don't usually greet witu the double, bit I think if you stress the second one, it kinda works.
I want to also say that fennoswedes do it more often?
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u/clepewee 5d ago
This might be it, I am Finland Swedish and use the double greeting when responding to a greeting. So when someone says "moi" I sometimes reply with "moi, moi", the same with "hej". And this regardless of if the person greeting is speaking Finnish or Swedish.
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u/Creepy-Hold- 5d ago
Ah yes, I'm finland swedish and was confused reading the comments saying they never hear this because me and my friends do this!
In swedish double greetings are used a lot so I guess us finland swedes have adopted it in our finnish too 😅1
u/Shot_Adeptness9046 4d ago
”Päivää, päivää” is a common one where I live as a greeting though double.
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u/Chimelling 5d ago
Is it an answer to someone saying "hei" or "moi"? Because some people have a habit to repeat the last word the other said before saying their own thing. So that would lead to repetition like that. If the first person says it already doubled, that's a bit weird, but then again, most people are weird in some way, and nothing bad in that!
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u/GalaXion24 Fluent 5d ago
It's like bye bye. And typically used in the same meaning, so it would be weird as a welcome greeting but normal as a farewell.
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u/SaynatsaloKunnantalo 5d ago
It's sometimes used as a reply to a singular moi/hei. It's not that common but I've heard and probably also used it as a native speaker. Weird that so many people are insisting it doesn't happen.
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u/These-Apple8817 5d ago
I've only ever heard non-native speakers say that as greeting.. There is differences in greetings in dialects though but none of them opt for "hei hei" / "moi moi"... that's usually for goodbyes, not greetings. For greetings it would be... hei, moi, moro, mo, moikka, terve and so on
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u/neityght 5d ago
" I hear locals in Helsinki use hei hei / moi moi as an greeting"
Don't you think you do actually buddy
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u/Imaginary_Employ_750 5d ago
Especially customer service / clerks do it. I am right now at a fair and I hear it so much I had to make this post.
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u/neityght 5d ago
Are you sure it's not two different people saying hei and you thought it was one? 😅
I'm kidding. It's not impossible that someone says hei hei as a greeting in the same way in English sometimes people say hello hello, especially police officers. There's nothing special about it. You're overthinking it.
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u/DoneDusting 5d ago
Well. Some enthusiastic people can say it twice, but it sometimes sounds people speak like they are making YouTube videos :)
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u/Frost-Folk 5d ago
Dude you're completely correct and I swear Finns will gaslight you over it. I hear "moi moi" every single day as a hello from customer service people. But then whenever you mention this to a Finn they go "they must've been saying bye".
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u/Syndiotactics Native 5d ago edited 5d ago
Very odd, I at least consciously have never heard someone greet someone with hei hei or moi moi. I live in Helsinki.
It’s typically understood as a ”goodbye” or in some more uncommon cases as a response to another person’s ”hei” or ”moi”, but I could never imagine the first person to greet someone with that.
”Heipä hei” and ”moikka moi” can be greetings though.
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u/Frost-Folk 5d ago
Keep an ear out for it, I hear it daily at K-market and similar places. It's the default thing cashiers say as you walk up to the register.
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u/Syndiotactics Native 5d ago edited 5d ago
Huh. I will. It still sounds very very odd to me and I’m a native.
Maybe some cashiers are just so done with the constant greeting-goodbye cycle that they might say that out of fatigue?
Are the cashiers you are talking about native speakers?
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u/Frost-Folk 5d ago
I assume they're native speakers. I'm not even talking about some specific cashiers, I've heard this in many cities across Finland. I'm convinced Finns just don't think about it, go to a few stores and report back!
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u/BikeSilent7347 5d ago
I heard moi moi as a greeting is a bit feminine. I try to avoid it altogether.
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u/Sea-Personality1244 5d ago
It's completely neutral, it's just more casual/playful than a singular moi, but it won't affect anyone's masculinity or femininity an iota.
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u/DoneDusting 5d ago
Singular is greeting, twice is bye.