Breakdown of Hän kysyy, saako joukkue pisteen.
hän
he / she
kysyä
to ask
saada
to get
joukkue
team
piste
point
Questions & Answers about Hän kysyy, saako joukkue pisteen.
Why is there no word for "if" here, like "jos"?
In Finnish, you cannot use jos (which means "if" for conditions, like "if it rains") for indirect questions. Instead, you attach the question ending -ko or -kö to the verb being asked about. Here, saako does the job of "if (the team) gets".
Why does saako come before joukkue? Could I say "Hän kysyy, joukkue saako pisteen"?
No, the word with the -ko or -kö ending must always be placed at the very beginning of the indirect question. Since the verb saa gets the ending here, it jumps to the front of its clause.
Why is "point" in the form pisteen instead of the basic form piste?
The word pisteen is the object of the verb saada (to get). Because the team is getting one complete point, it takes the accusative case, which ends in -n and looks exactly like the genitive case.
Is the comma before saako strictly necessary?
Yes! In Finnish, you must always use a comma to separate a main clause (Hän kysyy) from a subordinate clause (saako joukkue pisteen). Finnish comma rules for these clauses are much stricter than in English.
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