Questions & Answers about Kuka on laivassa?
The translation says "on the ship", but doesn't the -ssa ending mean "in"?
Yes, the -ssa ending is the inessive case, which usually translates to "in". However, Finnish and English sometimes think about locations differently! In Finnish, you are considered to be "inside" large enclosed vehicles like a ship (laiva) or a train (juna). So you say laivassa ("in the ship"), even though in English we say we are "on" them.
Why is the ending -ssa and not -ssä?
This is because of vowel harmony. The word laiva contains the vowel a, which is a "back vowel". When a word has a back vowel (like a, o, or u), its endings must also use back vowels. Therefore, we use -ssa instead of the front-vowel version -ssä. The vowel i in the word is neutral and doesn't change this rule.
Why doesn't this question use the -ko ending on the verb, like onko?
The -ko (or -kö) ending is only added when you are asking a yes/no question (for example, Onko hän laivassa? - "Is he on the ship?"). Since this sentence already starts with the specific question word kuka ("who"), you don't need a yes/no question ending.
What if there are multiple people on the ship? Do we still use the singular verb on?
Yes, by default! Just like in English ("Who is..."), the question word kuka takes the singular verb on, even if you expect the answer might be a group of people.
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