Breakdown of Mistä sinä olet kotoisin?
sinä
you
mistä
where from / what (of/about)
olla kotoisin
to be from, to come from
Questions & Answers about Mistä sinä olet kotoisin?
Why does this sentence use mistä instead of missä?
Missä means 'where' (in a location), while mistä means 'from where' or 'out of where'. Because you are asking where someone originates from, you must use the elative case (the 'from' case), which changes the question word to mistä.
If mistä already means 'from where', why do we also need the word kotoisin?
Kotoisin means 'originating from' or 'native to' (it is related to koti, meaning 'home'). While mistä asks 'from where', adding kotoisin clarifies that you are asking about someone's home country or hometown, rather than just where they traveled from this morning.
Can I drop the word sinä from this sentence?
Yes! In Finnish, the verb ending tells you who the subject is. The -t at the end of olet already means 'you are'. Because of this, it is very common and natural to just drop the pronoun and say Mistä olet kotoisin?
How do I answer this question using the new -sta or -stä endings?
You match the 'from' case of the question word! Just attach -sta or -stä to your country or city, and keep the word kotoisin. For example, 'I am from Canada' is Olen kotoisin Kanadasta.
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