Learn Finnish: Syökö kissa kalaa? - Does the cat eat fish?

Syödä is a Type 2 verb, meaning its basic form ends in a diphthong (two vowels together) plus -dä. To conjugate it, you drop the -dä to get the stem: syö-. For the "he/she/it" form (since the subject is kissa, "the cat"), we just use the stem as is. Finally, we attach the question particle -kö to make it a yes/no question, resulting in syökö.

Why does the sentence start with the verb instead of a word for "does"?

Finnish does not use helper words like "do" or "does" to ask questions. Instead, you take the main verb, add the question ending (-ko or -kö), and move that combined word to the very beginning of the sentence.

Why is there an extra -a at the end of kalaa (fish)?

This is the partitive case ending. When talking about eating or drinking, Finnish usually puts the food or drink in the partitive case (changing kala to kalaa). It shows that the cat is eating "some fish" or that the action is just a general habit, rather than eating one whole, specific fish from start to finish.

Where are the words for "the" and "a" in this sentence?

Finnish does not have articles like "the" or "a". The word kissa can mean "cat", "a cat", or "the cat" depending on the context. In English, we add "the" because it makes the most sense when asking a question about a specific animal.