Breakdown of Pystyvätköhän he korjaamaan pyörätuolin tiistaina?
he
they
tiistai
Tuesday
korjata
to fix
pystyä
to be able to, to manage
Questions & Answers about Pystyvätköhän he korjaamaan pyörätuolin tiistaina?
Why is the verb korjata (to fix) in the form korjaamaan?
The verb pystyä (to be able to) requires the action verb that follows it to be in the 3rd infinitive illative form, which ends in -maan or -mään. Therefore, korjata becomes korjaamaan.
What do the endings -kö and -hän add to the verb pystyvät?
The -kö suffix turns the verb into a yes/no question. The -hän particle softens the question and adds a sense of pondering. When combined as -köhän at the end of the first word, it creates the common phrase pattern for "I wonder if...".
Why is the wheelchair (pyörätuoli) in the genitive-like form pyörätuolin instead of the partitive?
It is the total object of the sentence. Because the question is about fixing the wheelchair completely (a finished action), it takes the -n ending. If the action was just working on the wheelchair without necessarily finishing the repair, you would use the partitive form pyörätuolia.
Why does the word for Tuesday (tiistai) have the -na ending?
The -na ending is the essive case. In Finnish, you use this case with days of the week to express that something happens "on" that day. So, tiistaina simply means "on Tuesday".