Learn Finnish: Istuvatko he kirkossa? - Do they sit in the church?

The dictionary form is istua (to sit). It is a Type 1 verb, meaning it ends in two vowels. To make the 'they' form, we drop the final -a to get the stem (istu-) and add the 'they' ending -vat, making istuvat.

Why is there a -ko attached to the verb?

In Finnish, you turn a statement into a yes/no question by adding the question particle -ko (or -kö) to the word you are asking about. Adding it to istuvat changes 'They sit' into 'Do they sit?'.

Could I say he istuvatko instead?

No. When you attach the question particle -ko to a word, that word must move to the very beginning of the sentence. That is why it is istuvatko he rather than he istuvatko.

How does kirkossa mean 'in the church'?

The ending -ssa means 'in' or 'inside' (this is called the inessive case). You attach it directly to the end of the word. Finnish does not have a separate word for 'the', so kirkossa means both 'in a church' and 'in the church'.

Why does kirkossa only have one k in the middle, when the word for church is ?