Breakdown of Eikö keitto maistu hyvältä?
hyvä
good
ei
no / not (negative verb)
keitto
soup
maistua
to taste (have a flavor)
Questions & Answers about Eikö keitto maistu hyvältä?
How is eikö formed in this sentence?
It is made of the negative verb ei (it does not) plus the question particle -kö. Attaching the particle to the negative verb and putting it at the beginning of the sentence creates a negative yes/no question: "Doesn't it...?"
Why is the particle -kö used here instead of -ko?
This is due to vowel harmony. The word ei only contains the vowels 'e' and 'i'. Because these vowels act as front vowels when there are no back vowels (a, o, u) in the word, you must use the front-vowel version of the ending: -kö.
Why doesn't the verb maistu have a double 'u' at the end?
In a positive sentence, it would be keitto maistuu (the soup tastes). But in negative sentences, the main verb drops its personal ending. Because of the negative word eikö, the verb takes its base negative form (the connegative): maistu.
Why is the word for good (hyvä) in the -ltä form (hyvältä)?
In Finnish, verbs related to the senses like maistua (to taste), näyttää (to look), and kuulostaa (to sound) require the following adjective to be in the ablative case (-lta/-ltä). Instead of saying something tastes "good", you grammatically say it tastes "from good".
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