Learn Finnish: Polttaako tällainen chili suuta? - Does this kind of chili burn the mouth?

Tämä chili would mean "this specific chili" (like the exact pepper in your hand). Tällainen chili means "this kind of chili" or "a chili like this". It focuses on the qualities of the chili, like its type or spiciness, rather than pointing to one specific object.

Wait, doesn't polttaa mean "to smoke"?

It can! Polttaa is a very versatile verb that literally means "to burn". When talking about cigarettes, it means "to smoke" (burning tobacco). When talking about spicy food, fire, or hot surfaces, it means "to burn".

Why is the object suuta in the partitive case?

The verb polttaa (to burn) takes a partitive object here because the action is ongoing and doesn't result in a completed change of state. The chili is causing a continuous burning sensation, not burning the mouth completely out of existence. The word suu (mouth) takes the partitive ending -ta to become suuta.

Why is the verb polttaako at the very beginning of the sentence?

To form a yes/no question in Finnish, you add the question particle -ko (or -kö) to the word you are asking about, and move that word to the front of the sentence. Since the core question is whether the chili burns, we add -ko to polttaa and place it first.