Breakdown of Mistä väristä hän pitää?
hän
he / she
mistä
where from / what (of/about)
pitää
to like
väri
color
Questions & Answers about Mistä väristä hän pitää?
Why does this sentence use mistä (where from) when asking 'what' color?
The verb pitää (to like) is special: it requires the thing you like to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). Since we are asking 'what' color someone likes, the question word mikä (what) must change to its elative form, mistä.
Why do both the question word and the noun end in -stä?
In Finnish, question words and adjectives must match the grammatical case of the noun they describe. Because the noun väri (color) must be in the elative case (väristä) due to the verb pitää, the word for 'what' must also be in the elative case (mistä).
Why does väristä use the -stä ending instead of -sta?
This is due to vowel harmony. The word väri contains the front vowel ä. Finnish words with front vowels (ä, ö, y) take the front-vowel ending -stä instead of the back-vowel ending -sta.
Why does the verb pitää look exactly like its dictionary form here?
The verb pitää is conjugated in the hän (he/she) form here. To make the hän form, you take the stem pitä- and double the last vowel, resulting in pitää. It just happens to look identical to the dictionary form. Also notice it keeps the strong 't' sound, unlike the 'I' form (minä pidän).
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