Question Particle '-ko/-kö' — Finnish Grammar

To turn a statement into a yes/no question, English changes the word order or adds "do". Finnish attaches a small particle, -ko or -kö, to the word being questioned - usually the verb - and moves that word to the front of the sentence. Nothing else needs to change, which makes yes/no questions remarkably easy to form.

Forming a Yes/No Question

Take the key word (commonly the verb), attach -ko/-kö, and place it first.

Sinä tulet. → Tuletko?
You're coming. → Are you coming?
Puhutko suomea?
Do you speak Finnish?
Onko se uusi?
Is it new?
Asutteko Helsingissä?
Do you (all) live in Helsinki?

Which Spelling to Use

Like every Finnish ending containing an o or an a, this one has a twin with the dotted vowel. A word containing a, o or u takes -ko; a word without any of them takes -kö.

Asutko täällä?
Do you live here? (asut has a and u)
Syötkö lihaa?
Do you eat meat? (syöt has neither)

Questioning a Different Word

Attaching the particle to a word other than the verb shifts the focus of the question onto that word. This is how Finnish asks "is it X that…?".

Kahviako sinä juot?
Is it coffee that you're drinking?
Sinäkö sen teit?
Was it you who did it?

Open Questions Do Not Use It

Questions beginning with a question word - (what), (who), (where), (when) - do not take -ko/-kö, because the question word already makes them questions.

Missä sinä asut?
Where do you live?
Mitä tämä on?
What is this?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Finnish course

73 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 15. A few of them, with the words “Question Particle '-ko/-kö'” is about in bold:

Palaatko huomenna?
Will you be back tomorrow?
Lesson 258
Voitko lähettää viestin uudestaan?
Can you send the message again?
Lesson 426

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