Questions & Answers about Mitä tämä sana tarkoittaa?
Why do we use mitä instead of the basic form mikä?
The verb tarkoittaa (to mean) is a partitive verb, which means its object must be in the partitive case. Because you are asking what the word means, the question word acts as the object and takes the partitive form mitä.
Why doesn't tämä sana change its form to match mitä?
Tämä sana (this word) is the subject of the sentence, which means it is the thing performing the action. In standard sentences, the subject stays in the basic nominative case, regardless of what case the object takes.
How would I use this sentence's structure in an että (that) clause?
If you wanted to say 'I think that this word means...', you would use että to link the two ideas: Luulen, että tämä sana tarkoittaa... The word order after että is exactly the same as a normal statement.
What if I want to embed this exact question into another sentence, like 'Do you know what this word means?'
You just attach it directly! Unlike English, which changes 'what does this mean' to 'what this means', Finnish keeps the exact same word order for indirect questions: Tiedätkö, mitä tämä sana tarkoittaa?
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