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Questions & Answers about Minä olen kotoisin Suomesta.
Why does the word Suomi change to Suome- before adding the -sta ending?
Many older Finnish words ending in -i change that -i to an -e- when you add a grammatical ending. So, the base word Suomi (Finland) becomes the stem Suome-, and then we add the elative ending -sta to get Suomesta (from Finland).
Both kotoisin and the -sta ending translate to "from". Why do we need both here?
Kotoisin is an adjective that specifically means "originally from" or "a native of" (it is related to koti, meaning home). In Finnish grammar, when you use kotoisin, the place must always be in the "from" case (the elative case). It might feel repetitive in English, but it is required in Finnish.
How do I use the question word mistä to ask the question this sentence answers?
You would ask: Mistä sinä olet kotoisin? (Where are you from?). Notice that the question word mistä (from where) also has the "from" ending, which perfectly matches the answer Suomesta.
Why does Suomesta use -sta instead of -stä?
This is because of vowel harmony. The word Suomi contains the vowels u and o, which are "back vowels". Therefore, any ending you attach to it must also use back vowels, making it -sta rather than the "front vowel" version -stä.