Question 1

Why do we need siitä right before että?

Accepted Answer

The verb johtua (to be due to / to stem from) requires the thing causing the situation to be in the elative case (the -sta/-stä ending). Since you cannot attach case endings directly to the conjunction että (that), Finnish uses a pronoun bridge. You put the pronoun se into the elative case (siitä) to satisfy the verb's rule, and then introduce the actual reason with the että clause.

Question 2

Why are there two 'it' words right next to each other (se siitä)?

Accepted Answer

They serve two different grammatical roles. The first se is the subject of the sentence, meaning 'it' (referring to the situation being discussed). The second one, siitä, is the pronoun bridge that points forward to the että clause. Literally, the sentence translates to 'Does it stem from it, that the visa is old?'

Question 3

Doesn't the verb johtaa mean 'to lead'? Why is it translated as 'because' here?

Accepted Answer

You are thinking of the transitive verb johtaa (to lead or direct). This sentence uses the related intransitive verb johtua, which means to stem from, to result from, or to be caused by. This is why it translates closely to 'Is it because...' in English, and also why it demands the 'from' case (elative) for its object.

Question 4

Why does the sentence start with Johtuuko instead of keeping the subject first?

Accepted Answer

In Finnish yes/no questions, the word carrying the question particle -ko/-kö must be moved to the very front of the sentence. Because we are asking if the situation stems from a specific cause, we attach -ko to the verb johtuu and move it to the beginning, flipping the standard subject-verb word order.

Johtuuko se siitä, että viisumi on vanha?

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