Breakdown of Keneltä hänen isoisänsä kysyy apua?
kysyä
to ask
keneltä
from whom
apu
help
hänen
his, her, hers
isoisä
grandfather
Questions & Answers about Keneltä hänen isoisänsä kysyy apua?
Why do we need both hänen and the -nsä ending on isoisänsä?
This is a strict rule in standard written Finnish! For third-person possessives like his, her, or their, you must use both the genitive pronoun (hänen or heidän) and the possessive suffix on the noun itself (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn).
How do we know whether to use -nsä or -nsa for the suffix here?
It depends on vowel harmony. Because isoisä is a compound word (iso + isä), the vowel harmony is determined by the final word, isä. Since isä uses front vowels (i and ä), the suffix must also use a front vowel, becoming -nsä.
Why does the sentence start with keneltä (from whom)?
The verb kysyä (to ask) requires a specific case. In Finnish, you do not ask someone directly; instead, you ask from someone. Because of this, the person being asked must be in the ablative case (-lta/-ltä). Keneltä is the ablative form of kuka (who).
Why is the word for help in the partitive case (apua)?
Apu (help) is an abstract, uncountable noun. Because the grandfather is asking for an undefined amount of it (some help), the word takes the partitive ending -a.
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