Breakdown of Istutko sinä minun vieressäni ryhmäkuvassa?
sinä
you
istua
to sit
vieressä
next to
minun
my, mine
Questions & Answers about Istutko sinä minun vieressäni ryhmäkuvassa?
Why does vieressä have the -ni ending attached to it?
This is how Finnish handles postpositions with personal pronouns. When you say 'next to me', you use the genitive pronoun minun (my) and add the matching possessive suffix -ni to the postposition vieressä.
Could I leave out the word minun and just say vieressäni?
Yes, absolutely! Because the suffix -ni already tells us it relates to the first person singular ('me' or 'my'), the pronoun minun is optional. You will often hear just Istutko sinä vieressäni?.
How is the yes/no question formed here?
By adding the question particle -ko to the verb istut (you sit) and moving it to the very beginning of the sentence. This turns the statement 'You sit' into the question 'Do you sit?'.
What does the -ssa ending do in ryhmäkuvassa?
The -ssa ending is the inessive case, which generally translates to 'in' or 'inside'. It attaches to the compound word ryhmäkuva (ryhmä meaning 'group' and kuva meaning 'picture') to mean 'in the group photo'.