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Questions & Answers about Kuka opettaja on?
Why is the verb on at the end of the sentence?
In Finnish, the question word (kuka) always comes first. After that, the rest of the sentence often follows normal statement word order. A normal statement would be Opettaja on... (The teacher is...), so the question becomes Kuka opettaja on?.
Can I say Kuka on opettaja? just like in English?
Yes, but it slightly changes the meaning! Kuka opettaja on? means 'Who is the teacher?' (asking about the identity of a specific teacher). Kuka on opettaja? sounds more like 'Who is a teacher?' (asking who in a group has the job of a teacher).
Would it be wrong to use mikä instead of kuka here?
Yes, it would be wrong. Kuka means 'who' and is only used for people. Mikä means 'what' and is used for things, concepts, or animals. Since a teacher is a person, you must use kuka.
How do we know it means 'the' teacher and not 'a' teacher?
Finnish does not have articles like 'a' or 'the'. The word opettaja simply means 'teacher'. You figure out whether it means 'a teacher' or 'the teacher' entirely from the context of the conversation and the word order.