Learn Finnish: Joukkueella on palkinto, mutta en tiedä, hävisimmekö. - The team has the prize, but I do not know if we lost.

In English, we use words like 'if' or 'whether' for indirect questions. In Finnish, you do not use a separate word. Instead, you attach the question ending -ko or -kö directly to the verb, just like you would in a regular question. hävisimme means 'we lost', so adding -kö makes it mean 'whether we lost' or 'if we lost' in this context.

Why does the ending use -kö instead of -ko?

This is because of vowel harmony. The word hävisimme contains the front vowels ä and i. Because the word uses front vowels, any endings attached to it must also use front vowels. Therefore, we use -kö instead of -ko.

How do we get the past tense hävisimme from the dictionary form hävitä (to lose)?

hävitä is a Type 4 verb. To make the past tense for these verbs, the -tä or -ta ending changes to -si- before you add the personal ending. Here, we add the 'we' ending -mme to the past stem hävisi-, resulting in hävisimme.

Why does 'the team has' translate to joukkueella on?

Finnish does not have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, you express ownership by putting the owner in the 'on/at' case (the adessive ending -lla or -llä) followed by the verb on (is). So joukkueella on palkinto literally translates to 'on the team is a prize'.