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Questions & Answers about Onko reikä paidassa?
Why is it paidassa instead of paitassa?
The dictionary word for shirt is paita. When we add the ending -ssa (meaning in), it closes the last syllable. This triggers a rule called consonant gradation, changing the strong t to a weak d, so we get paidassa.
The word for hole is reikä. Why doesn't the k drop out here?
Consonant gradation only happens when we add an ending that closes the syllable. Here, reikä is the subject of the sentence and is in its basic dictionary form with no endings attached. If we wanted to say in the hole, we would add -ssä and the k would disappear, making it reiässä.
How is the question formed with onko?
The word onko is the verb on (is) with the question ending -ko attached to it. In Finnish, you make a yes/no question by adding -ko or -kö to a word and moving that word to the front of the sentence.
There are no words for the in this sentence. How do we know it means the hole and the shirt?
Finnish does not use articles like a or the. You have to figure it out from the context of the conversation. In English, Is the hole in the shirt? makes the most sense for this specific situation, though Is there a hole in the shirt? is also a possible translation if the context were different.