Contrastive focus questions
In standard yes/no questions, you attach the question clitic -ko/-kö to the verb and place the verb at the beginning of the sentence.
But what if you want to ask about a specific detail? To ask "Is it the glassblower who blows into the pipe?", you take the word you are emphasizing, attach -ko/-kö to it, and move that word to the front of the sentence instead of the verb.
Remember your vowel harmony: use -ko for words with back vowels (a, o, u) and -kö for words with front vowels (ä, ö, y).
| Is it the glassblower who blows into the pipe? | Lasinpuhaltajako puhaltaa pilliin? |
Keeping case endings
This structure works for any part of the sentence—the object, the instrument, or the location.
Crucially, the word you bring to the front keeps whatever case ending it needs for its role in the sentence. The -ko/-kö clitic is attached at the very end of the word, after all other suffixes and case endings.
| Is it with one pair of tongs that she bends the crystal? | Yksillä pihdeilläkö hän taivuttaa kristallia? |
| Was it a crack that you noticed in the transparent glass? | Särönkö sinä huomasit läpinäkyvässä lasissa? |
| Is it in the workshop that the glassblower works? | Pajassako lasinpuhaltaja työskentelee? |
Postpositions and direct contrasts
When emphasizing a postpositional phrase (like "through the pipe"), you attach the clitic to the main noun, and the postposition immediately follows it.
| Is it through the pipe that you blow transparent glass? | Pillinkö läpi sinä puhallat läpinäkyvää lasia? |
Because these questions specifically single out one piece of information, they are often paired with vai (or) to offer a direct alternative.
| Is it the tongs that you need, or the pipe? | Pihditkö sinä tarvitset vai pillin? |