Learn Finnish: Mistä tämä nainen on kotoisin?

Missä means 'where' as in a stationary location. Mistä means 'from where'. In English, you put 'from' at the end of the question, but Finnish builds it directly into the question word mistä to show origin.

What exactly does kotoisin mean?

Kotoisin means 'originating from' or 'native to'. It is built from the word koti, which means 'home'. You use it together with the verb olla (to be) to talk about someone's home country or hometown.

Since mistä already means 'from where', why do we also need kotoisin?

If you only asked Mistä tämä nainen on?, it could sound like you are asking where she just traveled from today or where she was physically standing. Adding kotoisin makes it specifically about her permanent roots.

Why is tämä nainen in the middle of the sentence?

In Finnish questions, the question word Mistä comes first. Then comes the subject, which is tämä nainen (this woman), followed by the verb on (is) and finally the origin word kotoisin.