Word
Missä ruoka on?
Meaning
Where is the food?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Missä ruoka on?
The English translation is "Where is the food?", but the Finnish words are in the order "Where food is?". Is this normal?
Yes! When a Finnish question starts with a question word like missä (where), the subject (ruoka) usually comes before the verb (on).
I know the ending -ssä means "in". Is that why missä ends that way?
Exactly. Missä is a form of the word mikä (what). By adding the -ssä ending, it literally becomes "in what", which is how Finnish says "where".
Since this lesson is about negation, how would I answer this question by saying "The food is not here"?
You would say Ruoka ei ole täällä. To make the verb on (is) negative for an "it" subject like food, you use the matching negative verb ei followed by the connegative form ole.