Colloquial Finnish - Questions

Questions

In everyday speech, the -ko/kö suffix has the -s clitic added, becoming -kos/kös, which in turn reduces to -ks:

olenko minä hengissä?oo(n)ks mä hengis? "am I alive?"
puhutko sinä englantia?puhut sä enkkuu? or puhuks(ä) enkkuu? "do you (sg.) speak English?"
tuliko hän jo?tulikse jo? (via tuliko se jo?) "did he/she come yet?"

The choice of morphemes -kos/kös or -ks is not always purely dialectal or accidental. Many Finns regularly use more than one variation in their speech. The choice might depend among others on the rhythm of the sentence or the (wished) tempo of the discussion. Sometimes it has other clearly communicational purposes e.g. the longer variation might be used to soften an intruding question.

The clitic -s is also found in imperatives, e.g. me(n)es "(I expect you to) go!" It can also be, that the -tkö elides not to -ks, but -t before a 's', e.g. menetkö sä ? me(n)et sä. Because this is identical to sä menet except for the word order, questions are indicated by word order.

Read more about this topic:  Colloquial Finnish

Famous quotes containing the word questions:

    They [creative children] ask more questions than most children. They’re usually spontaneous and enthusiastic. Their ideas are unique and occasionally strike other kids as weird. They’re independent. Not that they don’t care at all what other kids think, but they’re able to do their thing despite the fact that their peers may think it’s strange. And they have lots and lots of ideas.
    Silvia Rimm (20th century)

    Uneasy shifting resumes
    As sterilisers steam
    And the routine begins again
    Of putting questions to flesh
    That no one would think to ask
    But a Ph.D. with a beard....
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    Do not shut up the young people against their will in a pew, and force the children to ask them questions for an hour against their will.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)