Breakdown of Keneltä hänen isoisänsä kysyy apua?
kysyä
to ask
keneltä
from whom
apu
help
hänen
his, her, hers
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)?