Vaivaako päänsärky sinua?

It is made of:

• vaivata = to bother, trouble, afflict
• vaivaa = bothers / is bothering (3rd person singular present)
• -ko / -kö = the yes/no question particle

So vaivaako literally means something like does it bother? or is it bothering?

In this sentence, the subject is päänsärky, so the full idea is Is a headache bothering you?

In Finnish, yes/no questions are often formed by attaching -ko/-kö to the first important word in the sentence. Very often that first word is the verb.

So:

• Päänsärky vaivaa sinua. = A headache is bothering you.
• Vaivaako päänsärky sinua? = Is a headache bothering you?

Unlike English, Finnish does not need an auxiliary like do/does here.

Sinua is the partitive form of sinä.

• sinä = you
• sinua = you in the partitive

It is used here because vaivata commonly takes a partitive object when talking about an ongoing state, feeling, or condition affecting someone.

So:

• Päänsärky vaivaa sinua. = A headache is bothering you.

Using sinut here would sound wrong in normal Finnish.

Because päänsärky is the subject of the sentence.

The structure is basically:

• päänsärky = the thing doing the bothering
• sinua = the person being affected

So päänsärky stays in the nominative (basic form).

If you see päänsärkyä, that is a different grammatical situation. For example:

• Onko sinulla päänsärkyä? = Do you have a headache?

There, päänsärkyä is partitive because of the existential-type construction.

Yes, it is one compound word:

• pää = head
• särky = ache, pain

Together:

• päänsärky = headache

The first part appears as pään-, which comes from pää. Finnish compounds often use a linking form like this, and in many cases it looks like the genitive.

It is correct and understandable, but it can sound a bit more formal, medical, or book-like than the most everyday option.

Very common alternatives are:

• Onko sinulla päänsärkyä? = Do you have a headache?
• Särkeekö päätä? = Does your head hurt? / Do you have a headache?

So Vaivaako päänsärky sinua? is fine, but in casual everyday speech you might hear the other versions more often.

Yes. Finnish word order is fairly flexible.

For example, you could also say:

• Vaivaako sinua päänsärky?

This means the same thing. The difference is mostly about emphasis or information flow.

• Vaivaako päänsärky sinua? puts päänsärky earlier.
• Vaivaako sinua päänsärky? puts sinua earlier.

Both are grammatical.

The plain statement is:

• Päänsärky vaivaa sinua. = A headache is bothering you.

To turn it into a yes/no question, Finnish adds -ko/-kö to the first main word, usually the verb:

• Vaivaako päänsärky sinua?

So the question is directly related to the statement form.

No. Vaivata is broader than just physical pain.

It can mean:

• to bother
• to trouble
• to afflict
• to cause problems for

Examples:

• Mikä sinua vaivaa? = What’s wrong with you? / What’s bothering you?
• Uni vaivaa häntä. = Sleep problems trouble him/her.
• Syyllisyys vaivaa minua. = Guilt is bothering me.

So in Vaivaako päänsärky sinua?, it means that the headache is troubling or afflicting you.

Finnish usually uses the question particle -ko/-kö instead of a separate auxiliary verb.

Compare:

• English: Does a headache bother you?
• Finnish: Vaivaa-ko päänsärky sinua?

So instead of adding a separate word, Finnish attaches a little question ending to the verb or another fronted word.

This is one of the big structural differences between English and Finnish.

Finnish does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So päänsärky can mean:

• a headache
• the headache
• sometimes just headache in a general sense

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English will usually translate it as a headache or simply headache, depending on what sounds most natural.

Roughly like this:

• Vai-vaa-ko pään-sär-ky si-nu-a

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• ää is a long vowel, not like English a
• y is the Finnish front rounded vowel, not like English y
• stress is on the first syllable of each word:
  • VAIvaako
  • PÄÄNsärky
  • SInua

Finnish pronunciation is usually very regular, so once you know the sounds, the spelling tells you a lot.