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Questions & Answers about Kunnioittavatko he meitä?
Why is "us" translated as meitä?
How is the long word kunnioittavatko built?
It combines three pieces: the basic verb kunnioittaa (to respect), the "they" ending -vat to make kunnioittavat (they respect), and finally the question particle -ko to turn the statement into a yes/no question.
If the verb already has the "they" ending (-vat), do we still need the word he?
Yes, in standard written Finnish. While you can usually drop the pronoun for "I", "you", "we", and "you all", the third-person pronouns hän (he/she) and he (they) generally must be included in the sentence alongside the verb.
Why does the question particle use an "o" (-ko) instead of an "ö" (-kö) here?
This is because of vowel harmony. The root word kunnioittaa contains the back vowels "u", "o", and "a". Therefore, any endings attached to it must also use back vowels, making it -ko instead of -kö. The letter "i" is neutral and doesn't change this rule.