Questions & Answers about Kuka on perheen lääkäri?
How do we get perheen from the basic word for "family"?
The basic word for "family" is perhe. To make it possessive ("family's"), we use the genitive case, which adds an -n. For words ending in -e, you must double that final vowel before adding the -n. So, perhe becomes perheen.
Does the genitive word always come first, like in perheen lääkäri?
Yes! Just like in English when you say "the family's doctor", the possessor (perheen) comes before the thing being possessed (lääkäri). You cannot swap the order to say lääkäri perheen.
Why use kuka instead of mikä here?
Kuka means "who" and is strictly used when asking about people. Mikä means "what" and is used for things. Since a doctor is a person, we must use kuka.
How do we know it translates to "the" family's doctor if there is no word for "the"?
Finnish does not have articles like "a" or "the". A word like perhe can mean "family", "a family", or "the family" depending on the context. In this situation, asking about "the" family's doctor is simply the most natural English translation.