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Questions & Answers about Pidätkö jalkapallosta?
Why does the word for football, jalkapallo, end in -sta here?
This is because of the verb pitää (to like). In Finnish, certain verbs require the word connected to them to be in a specific case. This is called 'verb rection'. The verb pitää requires the thing you like to be in the elative case, which ends in -sta or -stä (often translated as 'out of'). So, literally, Finns say they like 'out of football'!
The dictionary form for 'to like' is pitää. Why is there a 'd' in pidätkö?
This is due to consonant gradation. When we conjugate pitää into the 'you' form, we add the personal ending -t. This closes the syllable, causing the strong t in the middle of the word to weaken into a d. Therefore, pitää becomes pidät.
What does the -kö at the end of pidätkö do?
The -kö (or -ko) is a question particle. Attaching it to a verb turns a statement like pidät (you like) into a yes/no question: pidätkö? (do you like?). We use -kö instead of -ko here because of vowel harmony, since the root word pitää contains front vowels.
The lesson also teaches the verb tykätä (to like). How would this sentence change if I used that verb?