Mistä esiintyjästä pidit eniten?

Here mistä is not about physical location. It is the elative form of mikä.

• mikä = what / which
• mistä = elative of mikä

Finnish uses the verb pattern pitää jostakin when pitää means to like. Because of that, the question word also has to be in the same case. So English says Which performer did you like the most?, but Finnish literally uses a from-type form.

-sta/-stä is the elative case. It often has a basic meaning like out of / from, but with some verbs it is simply the case that the verb requires.

One of those verbs is:

• pitää jostakin = to like something/someone

So in this sentence:

• esiintyjästä = from/about the performer in form
• but in actual meaning: the performer that you liked

This is just how Finnish grammar works with this verb. It is not a direct object in the same way English uses one.

Because Finnish makes words inside the same noun phrase agree in case and number.

Here mistä modifies esiintyjästä, so both must be in the elative singular:

• mikä esiintyjä = which performer (nominative)
• mistä esiintyjästä = from which performer / which performer in this verb pattern

So the case ending appears on both words, not just the noun.

Because this sentence is asking which one, not simply who.

A useful contrast:

• kuka = who
• mikä = which / what

When Finnish names the noun explicitly, mikä is commonly used for which, even if the noun refers to a person:

• mikä esiintyjä = which performer
• mikä opettaja = which teacher

If the noun were omitted, you could ask:

• Kenestä pidit eniten? = Who did you like the most?

But with esiintyjä included, mistä esiintyjästä is the natural structure.

Pidit is the 2nd person singular past tense of pitää.

• dictionary form: pitää
• pidit = you liked

Some past forms of pitää are:

• minä pidin = I liked
• sinä pidit = you liked
• hän piti = he/she liked

So this sentence is talking about the past, not the present.

Because Finnish usually leaves out the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

In pidit, the ending -t tells us the subject is sinä (you, singular).

So:

• Mistä esiintyjästä pidit eniten?
  and
• Mistä esiintyjästä sinä pidit eniten?

both mean the same thing, but the version without sinä is more neutral and natural unless you want emphasis.

Eniten means most. It is the superlative form used for amount/degree.

Compare:

• paljon = much / a lot
• enemmän = more
• eniten = most

So:

• pidit eniten = liked the most

In English this is often translated more naturally as liked best, but the Finnish word itself is closer to most.

This is the normal, neutral word order for a Finnish question.

• Mistä esiintyjästä = question phrase first
• pidit = finite verb
• eniten = adverb at the end

Finnish word order is somewhat flexible, but question words usually come first in straightforward questions like this. So this sentence sounds natural and standard.

Because of vowel harmony.

Finnish endings often come in two versions:

• -sta
• -stä

Words with front vowels like y, ä, ö usually take the front-vowel ending -stä.

Since esiintyjä contains y and ä, it becomes:

• esiintyjästä

And mikä becomes:

• mistä

For comparison:

• talo → talosta
• metsä → metsästä