Learn Hardcore Finnish: Mistä hän tulee nyt? - Where is he/she coming from now?

mistä = from where (literally “from which”)
- mi- = related to mikä / missä (“what / where”)
- -stä = “out of / from inside” (elative case ending)
hän = he / she (gender‑neutral “they” in the singular)
tulee = comes / is coming (3rd person singular of tulla, “to come”)
nyt = now

So the structure is basically: “From where he/she comes now?” → “Where is he/she coming from now?”

Why is it mistä and not missä or mihin?

These three are all “where”-type words, but they express different directions:

missä = in / at where (internal state/location)
- Example: Missä hän on? = “Where is he/she?”
mihin = to where (internal into / towards something)
- Example: Mihin hän menee? = “Where is he/she going (to)?”
mistä = from where (internal out of / from inside something)
- Example: Mistä hän tulee? = “Where is he/she coming from?”

In Mistä hän tulee nyt?, you’re specifically asking about the origin / source of the motion (from where), so you must use mistä.

What case is mistä, and how does it work generally?

Mistä is the elative case of the question word mikä (“what”) used in a locative sense. The elative case ending is:

-sta / -stä = “from inside, out of, from”

You find the same ending on nouns:

talosta = from the house
kaupasta = from the shop
koulusta = from the school

So mistä literally patterns with these: it asks “from what / from which place?”, and in this sentence that’s interpreted as “from where?”

How would you typically answer Mistä hän tulee nyt?

You usually answer with a place in the elative case (‑sta/‑stä), matching the idea of “from”:

Hän tulee koulusta. – He/She is coming from (the) school.
Hän tulee töistä. – He/She is coming from work.
Hän tulee kaupasta. – He/She is coming from the shop.
Hän tulee Suomesta. – He/She comes from Finland.

Grammatically:
Mistä → “from where?” → answer with [noun] + -sta/-stä → “from [place]”.

Does Mistä hän tulee nyt? mean “Where does he come from?” (origin) or “Where is he coming from now?” (right now)?

By itself, Mistä hän tulee nyt? is normally understood as “Where is he/she coming from now?”, about a current movement (e.g. you see someone entering and ask where they came from just now).

For origin / hometown / country, Finnish usually uses a different structure:

Mistä hän on kotoisin? – Where is he/she from (originally)?
Mistä maasta hän on? – From which country is he/she?

So:

Mistä hän tulee nyt? → situation right now, “from where is he coming now?”
Mistä hän on kotoisin? → birthplace/origin, “where is he from (originally)?”

What tense is tulee, and does it mean “comes” or “is coming”?

Tulee is the present tense, 3rd person singular of tulla (“to come”).

Finnish present tense covers both:

English simple present: he comes
English present progressive: he is coming

So hän tulee can be translated as either “he/she comes” or “he/she is coming”, depending on context. The word nyt (“now”) here strongly suggests the “is coming (now)” reading.

What’s the role of nyt in this sentence? Is it necessary?

Nyt means “now”. In this sentence it:

emphasizes that you are talking about the current situation
makes the English translation more naturally “is coming” instead of “comes”

You can say:

Mistä hän tulee? – “Where is he/she coming from?” / “Where does he/she come from?”

Adding nyt narrows it to right now:

Mistä hän tulee nyt? – “Where is he/she coming from now?”

It’s not grammatically required, but it adds a time nuance.

Can the word order change, like Hän tulee nyt mistä? or Nyt hän tulee mistä?

In neutral Finnish, questions normally begin with the question word, so:

✔ Mistä hän tulee nyt? – natural, neutral
❌ Hän tulee nyt mistä? – sounds odd / non‑standard as a real question
❌ Nyt hän tulee mistä? – also odd; might sound like echoing or repeating someone’s words.

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, but question words (kuka, mitä, missä, mistä, miksi, miten, etc.) usually come first in direct questions. You can move nyt around more freely:

Mistä hän nyt tulee? – also natural; slight emphasis on nyt (“Where is he coming from now, of all times?”)

But mistä should stay at the beginning of a normal wh‑question.

Does hän mean “he” or “she”? How do you show gender?

Hän is gender‑neutral and means both “he” and “she”. Finnish personal pronouns do not mark gender.

So:

Mistä hän tulee nyt? can be:
- “Where is he coming from now?” or
- “Where is she coming from now?”

If you need to clarify gender, you use context or additional words, e.g.:

Se mies, mistä hän tulee nyt? – That man, where is he coming from now?
Se nainen, mistä hän tulee nyt? – That woman, where is she coming from now?

How is tulee formed from the verb tulla?

The infinitive is tulla (“to come”). The present tense conjugation (singular) is:

minä tulen – I come / am coming
sinä tulet – you come / are coming (sing.)
hän tulee – he/she comes / is coming

For this sentence, we use hän → tulee (3rd person singular).

So the pattern is: tulla → tulee for “he/she comes” / “is coming”.

Can mistä also mean “about what / what … from” in other contexts?

Yes. Mistä is not only “from where” physically; it can also mean “from what / about what / because of what”, depending on the verb:

Mistä hän puhuu? – What is he/she talking about?
Mistä tämä johtuu? – What is this due to? / What causes this?
Mistä sinä tiedät? – How do you know? (literally “from what do you know?” → “based on what?”)

In Mistä hän tulee nyt?, because the verb tulla is about movement, the natural reading of mistä is clearly “from where”.

How do you pronounce Mistä hän tulee nyt? Any tips for an English speaker?

Key points:

Stress: Always on the first syllable of each word:
- MIS‑tä HÄN TU‑lee NYT
ä in mistä, hän:
- like “a” in cat or bat, but a bit purer and more fronted.
u in tulee:
- like “oo” in food, but short.
ee in tulee:
- a long e, like holding the vowel of bed: “tul‑EHH”.
y in nyt:
- a front rounded vowel; approximate by saying “i” (as in sit) while rounding your lips like for “u”.
Consonants:
- Pronounce all consonants clearly; no silent letters.
Rhythm:
- Finnish is fairly even and syllable‑timed:
  - MIS‑tä / HÄN / TU‑lee / NYT (each syllable clear and distinct).