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Questions & Answers about Mikä on kupissa?
Why is it kupissa and not "kuppissa"?
This is because of consonant gradation. The basic word for "cup" is kuppi, which has a double pp. When we add the ending -ssa, it closes the final syllable. This causes the strong double pp to simplify into a weak single p, making the word kupissa.
What does the -ssa ending do here?
The -ssa ending means "in" or "inside". In Finnish grammar, this is called the inessive case. It attaches directly to the end of the word, so the root word for cup plus the ending gives us kupissa (in the cup).
Why does the ending use an a (-ssa) instead of an ä (-ssä)?
This is a quick reminder of vowel harmony! Because the word kuppi contains the vowel u, which is a "back" vowel, the ending must also use a back vowel. Therefore, we use -ssa instead of -ssä.
Why do we use mikä for "what" instead of mitä?
Mikä is the basic form (nominative case) of "what", used when asking about the identity of the subject of a sentence (the thing doing the being). You would use mitä (partitive case) if the "what" was the target of an action, but here we are simply asking what thing exists in the cup, so mikä is correct.