Questions & Answers about Kuka on nostamassa käteistä?
Why do we use on nostamassa instead of just nostaa?
Using on plus the -massa form (the third infinitive inessive) emphasizes that the action is happening right now. While Kuka nostaa käteistä? is grammatically correct and means 'Who withdraws cash?', on nostamassa makes it clear that it is an ongoing, continuous action, exactly like the English 'is currently withdrawing'.
I thought nostaa meant 'to lift'. Why does it mean 'withdrawing' here?
You are right! The primary meaning of the verb nostaa is 'to lift' or 'to raise'. However, in the context of banking and money, nostaa is the standard verb for 'to withdraw' (literally 'lifting' the money out of the account or ATM).
Why is the word for cash, käteinen, in the partitive case (käteistä)?
We use the partitive case here because cash is an uncountable mass noun in this context. You aren't withdrawing 'all the cash in existence' or a specific, complete amount, but rather an unspecified quantity of cash.
If we do not know how many people are withdrawing cash, why is the verb on in the singular?
In Finnish, the question word kuka (who) always takes a singular verb, even if you suspect the answer might be multiple people. It behaves just like 'who is' in English.