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Questions & Answers about Onko lääkäri hotellissa?
How do we get hotellissa from the word hotelli?
To say 'in' a place, you add the inessive ending -ssa or -ssä to the noun. Because hotelli contains the back vowel o, vowel harmony dictates we use the back-vowel version -ssa. So, hotelli + -ssa = hotellissa.
Does the word hotelli change its stem when we add the -ssa ending?
No, it stays exactly the same! Hotelli is a non-gradating stem. This means its consonants (like the double ll) don't weaken or change when you add an ending like -ssa. You just stick the ending directly onto the dictionary form.
Why is the first word Onko instead of just on?
On means 'is'. To turn a statement into a yes/no question, Finnish attaches the question particle -ko (or -kö) to the verb and moves that verb to the very front of the sentence. Onko literally translates to 'Is...?'
Where are the words for 'the' in the Finnish sentence?
Finnish doesn't use articles like 'a' or 'the'. The word lääkäri can mean 'a doctor' or 'the doctor', and hotellissa can mean 'in a hotel' or 'in the hotel'. You rely entirely on context to know which one makes sense.