# toivoa and toivottaa



## 盲人瞎馬

I'm having difficulties finding the difference between these two verbs, could you Finns help me with examples?

Thanks.


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## Grumpy Old Man

*Toivon*, että tapaat hänet pian.
Voimme vain *toivoa *parasta!

Hän *toivotti* minulle hauskaa joulua.


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## 盲人瞎馬

Grumpy Old Man said:


> Hän *toivotti* minulle hauskaa joulua.



Why can't you say "...toivoi minulle..."?


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## Grumpy Old Man

Vitalore said:


> Why can't you say "...toivoi minulle..."?


Why?  I don't know.  Why don't we call a dog a cat?


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## 盲人瞎馬

Grumpy Old Man said:


> Why?  I don't know.  Why don't we call a dog a cat?


Could toivoi and toivotti mean the same thing in that sentence?


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## Finland

Hello!



Vitalore said:


> Why can't you say "...toivoi minulle..."?



Some people do use toivoa in that sense, in certain contexts at least, but it's not considered very proper. For example, some would write at the end of a letter "Hyvää syntymäpäivää
toivoo ystäväsi X",
although one should write "toivottaa". Similarly, one does hear occasionally some people say something like that "toivon sulle hyvää joulua ja onnellista uuttavuotta". It's better however to stick with toivottaa in these cases.

HTH
S


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## altazure

_Toivoa_ means that you wish for something.
_Toivottaa_ means that you use a (usually) fixed phrase such as "Hyvää matkaa!", "Hyvää joulua!" etc. to wish someone something good.


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