Interrogative pronouns were briefly introduced in §30.2 above. Many of the
question words are actually inflected forms of the interrogative pronouns
kuka ‘who’ and mikä ‘which, what’. The singular forms of kuka are based
on the stem kene- (NB: partitive singular ke/tä), and the plural forms on the
stem ke-. Note in particular the accusative singular kene/t and the nominative
plural ke/t/kä. In the declension of mikä the syllable -kä is dropped in all
cases except the nominative singular and plural and the genitive singular
(mikä, mi/n/kä, mi/t/kä). Almost all the plural forms of mikä are the same as
the singular.
Singular Plural
Nom. kuka who mikä which, what ke/t/kä mi/t/kä
Gen. kene/n mi/n/kä ke/i/den mi/n/kä
Acc. kene/t mi/n/kä ke/t/kä mi/t/kä
Part. ke/tä mi/tä ke/i/tä (other forms
Iness. kene/ssä mi/ssä ke/i/ssä as singular)
Elat. kene/stä mi/stä ke/i/stä
Illat. kene/en mi/hin ke/i/hin
Adess. kene/llä mi/llä ke/i/llä
Ablat. kene/ltä mi/ltä ke/i/ltä
Allat. kene/lle mi/lle ke/i/lle
Ess. kene/nä mi/nä ke/i/nä
Transl. kene/ksi mi/ksi ke/i/ksi
Kuka tuo mies on? Who is that man?
Kene/n kynä tämä on? Whose pen is this?
Mi/ssä talossa asut? In which house do you live?
Mi/tä kieltä opiskelemme? What language are we studying?
Mi/hin ravintolaan mennään? Which restaurant shall we go to?
Kene/ssä vika on? Whose fault is it (‘in whom is the
fault’)?
Mi/n/kä omenan valitset? Which apple do you choose?
Ke/t/kä nuo ihmiset ovat? Who are those people?
Kene/ltä voimme kysyä? Whom (‘from whom’) could we ask?
Mi/hin kaupunkeihin matkustat? Which towns are you travelling to?
Pronouns 141
Mi/tä ihmisiä tapasit siellä? What people did you meet there?
Ke/i/lle lähetämme kirjat? Whom shall we send the books to?
Mi/ltä sää näyttää? What does the weather look like?
Mi/tä tämä on? What is this?
Kene/t näit? Whom did you see?
Mi/nä päivänä he tulevat? What day are they coming?
Kumpi ‘which of two’ declines like the comparative forms of adjectives
(see §85).
Singular Plural
Nom. kumpi which (of two) kumma/t
Gen. kumma/n kump/i/en
Part. kumpa/a kump/i/a
Iness. kumma/ssa kumm/i/ssa
Elat. kumma/sta kumm/i/sta
Illat. kumpa/an kump/i/in
Adess. kumma/lla kumm/i/lla
Ablat. kumma/lta kumm/i/lta
Allat. kumma/lle kumm/i/lle
Ess. kumpa/na kump/i/na
Transl. kumma/ksi kumm/i/ksi
Kumma/lla puolella olet?
Which side are you on?
Kumma/ssa huoneessa Reino on?
In which room (of the two) is Reino?
Kumma/t kengät ostat?
Which shoes (of the two pairs) will you buy?
Kumpa/an kaupunkiin muutat?
Which town (of the two) are you moving to?
Kumma/lle annat lahjan?
To whom (of the two) will you give the present?
The interrogative pronouns millainen and minkälainen ‘what kind of’
decline like ihminen nominals (§20.1).
Millainen sää on ulkona? What is the weather like outside?
Minkälais/ta lihaa teillä on? What kind of meat do you have?
Millaise/n palkan saat? What kind of salary do you get?
Minkälaise/ssa lentokoneessa pääministeri saapuu?
In what kind of aeroplane is the Prime Minister arriving?
Millais/i/a vieraita teille tulee?
What kind of guests are you having?
