Breakdown of Asiakas kysyy, miksi uusi laite on rikki ja mikä syy on.
olla
to be
ja
and
uusi
new
kysyä
to ask
Questions & Answers about Asiakas kysyy, miksi uusi laite on rikki ja mikä syy on.
Does the word order change in an indirect question in Finnish, like it does in English?
No, it is actually much easier in Finnish! In English, you change "Why is the device broken?" to "...why the device is broken." In Finnish, the direct question (Miksi uusi laite on rikki?) and the indirect question (...miksi uusi laite on rikki) have exactly the same word order.
Why is there a comma before miksi?
In Finnish, you must use a comma to separate the main sentence (Asiakas kysyy) from a subordinate clause, like this indirect question. This is a strict punctuation rule in Finnish, even though we do not use a comma there in English.
Why doesn't the word rikki take any endings to match the noun?
Rikki is actually an adverb that describes the state of being broken, rather than a normal adjective, so it never takes case endings. If you want an adjective to put directly in front of a noun (like "a broken device"), you would use rikkinäinen (rikkinäinen laite). But after the verb on, rikki is the most common and natural choice.
Why does the second indirect question use mikä instead of mitä for "what"?
You use mikä (the basic nominative form) when asking about the subject of a sentence that is a complete, single concept. Here, syy (the reason) is the subject of the verb on. You would use the partitive form mitä if "what" was the object of an action verb, or if you were asking about an uncountable mass.