Course Grammar - Kurssin Kielioppi

3.1. Questions

In Finnish language a question sentence normally starts with a question word.
The word order is usually the same in an assertion and question.

Notice that the intonation falls off also in a question sentence and does not rise.

An assertion:                                                        A question:
Sinä olet Maija. You are Maija                               Kuka sinä olet? Who are you?
Sinä asut Helsingissä. You live in Helsinki            Missä sinä asut? Where do you live?

QUESTION WORDS (interrogatives)
Kuka?                                                                     Who?
Kuka sinä olet?                                                       Who are you?
Mikä?                                                                      What?
Mikä sinun nimi on?                                                What is your name?
Mitä?                                                                       What?
Mitä kieltä sinä puhut?                                            What language do you speak?
Note:
The basic rule is that mikä is used with the verb olla and mitä with other verbs.
Mikä sinun nimi on?
Mitä kieltä sinä puhut?

Minkämaalainen                                                      What nationality?
Minkämaalainen hän on?                                         What nationality is he/she?
Missä?                                                                     Where in?
Missä sinä asut?                                                      Where (in) do you live?
Mistä?                                                                      Where from?
Mistä te tulette?                                                        Where are you coming (from)?
Mihin?/Minne?                                                         Where to?
Mihin sinä menet?                                                    Where are you going (to)?

KO/KÖ-QUESTIONS
It is also possible to form questions with the question ending -ko/-kö. When using the question ending you should first conjugate the verb in the correct person then add the the question ending to the verb and finally add the rest of the sentence. Note that the question sentence should always start with the verb and the question ending.

Examples:
Sinä puhut suomea. You speak Finnish.
Puhutko sinä suomea? Do you speak Finnish?

Sinä olet kiinalainen. You are Chinese.
Oletko sinä kiinalainen? Are you Chinese?