Breakdown of Onko ohjaaja lähellä yleisöä?
olla
to be
ohjaaja
instructor / director
yleisö
the audience
lähellä
near
Questions & Answers about Onko ohjaaja lähellä yleisöä?
Why is yleisöä in the partitive case here?
It follows the preposition lähellä (near). In Finnish, most prepositions require the noun that comes immediately after them to be in the partitive case.
Can lähellä be used as a postposition after the noun instead?
Yes! Lähellä is a flexible word that can be either a preposition or a postposition. However, if you put it after the noun, the noun must be in the genitive case instead of the partitive. So, near the audience can be either lähellä yleisöä (preposition + partitive) or yleisön lähellä (genitive + postposition). Both are correct and very common.
How does onko make this a yes/no question?
The word onko is just the verb on (is) with the question suffix -ko attached. In Finnish, to ask a yes/no question, you take the main verb, add -ko or -kö to it, and move it to the very beginning of the sentence.
Why does the partitive ending for yleisö use an -ä instead of an -a?