Breakdown of Onko se hyvä vai huono?
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
vai
or (in questions)
hyvä
good
huono
bad
Questions & Answers about Onko se hyvä vai huono?
Why does this sentence use onko instead of onkö?
The question ending has two forms: -ko and -kö. Because the verb on (is) contains the back vowel o, vowel harmony rules dictate we must use the back-vowel ending -ko. If the word we were attaching it to only had front vowels (like ä, ö, y), we would use -kö.
Why is the verb onko at the very beginning of the sentence?
In Finnish, when you ask a yes/no question using the -ko or -kö ending, the word with that ending must be moved to the very front of the sentence. So, se on (it is) becomes onko se (is it?).
The word for 'or' here is vai. Could I use tai instead?
No, because this is a question. Finnish has two different words for 'or'. You use vai when asking a question where the listener has to choose between specific options. You use tai in regular, non-question statements.
How does vowel harmony show up in the words hyvä and huono?
Native Finnish words cannot mix front vowels (ä, ö, y) with back vowels (a, o, u). Notice how hyvä (good) strictly uses front vowels, while huono (bad) strictly uses back vowels. The vowels e and i are neutral and can mix with either group!
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