In Finnish, a yes/no question has the kO suffix on some word, which is normally placed at the start of the sentence. That word can be regarded as the focus word of the question, as defined in the description of the kO suffix.
An affirmative answer to a yes/no question is given idiomatically by using the focus word without the interrogative suffix. If the word is a verb, its person is changed from 2nd to 1st person or vice versa. Thus, you would answer a question starting with Tiedätkö,… (Do you know…) with Tiedän (I know), and you would answer the question Autonko Liisa osti? (Was it a car that Liisa bought) with Auton.
This system means that you really need to listen to what is being asked, instead of murmuring Kyllä, kultaseni (Yes, darling). It also means that a discussion where questions are answered positively sounds more varying than in languages that use just an adverb like “yes” for a positive answer:
– Oletko jo nähnyt elokuvan ”Interstellar”? (Have you already seen the movie “Interstellar”?)
– Olen. (Yes.)
– Piditkö siitä? (Did you like it?)
– Pidin. (Yes.)
– Suosittelisitko siis sitä minulle? (So would you recommend it to me?)
– Suosittelisin. (Yes.)
However, in common spoken language, such style is rare. Usually just an affirmative adverb like kyllä or joo is used. It may still be accompanied with an idiomatic type of answer, in some colloquial form, e.g. Joo, oon mä instead of Olen. In such expressions, the personal pronoun normally appears after the predicate.
A negative answer to a yes/no question with the predicate as the focus word is given idiomatically using the negative form of the predicate or just the negation verb. If the predicate is in a 1st or 2nd person form, it is changed to 2nd or 1st person, respectively. Thus, in the dialog example above, the negative answer to each question would be En ole, En pitänyt, and En suosittelisi or, shorter, just En to each question.
If the focus word is not the predicate, the shortest negative answer consists of the word Ei. However, you are normally expected to add something to it, typically the correct alternative. If the question is Autonko Liisa osti? and you can answer it negatively, you normally know what Liisa bought instead, so you can be expected to tell that, e.g. Ei, vaan moottoripyörän (No, a motorcycle).
Generally, answers to yes/no questions are very often accompanied with additional information or just additional words, and one-word answer might be regarded as abrupt, even rude.
A positive answer can be accompanied with the word kyllä, which emphasizes the positiveness of the answer: Tiedän kyllä might be translated as “Yes, I know well” or “Yes, I do know”. A negative answer may be preceded by the negation verb, used in an adverb-like manner, always in the 3rd person singular form in this context, e.g. Ei, en tiedä.
In modern Finnish, the idiomatic answers described above have become less common. People often answer with just Kyllä or Ei, independently of the form of the question. Instead of kyllä, the adverb joo or juu is often used in spoken language, or maybe jep or jees (from English “yes”), or jaa in some contexts (when voting “yes”).
When the focus word is not the predicate, the word niin is alternatively used as an affirmative answer, e.g. Huomennako hän tulee? (Is it tomorrow that he will come?) can be answered with Niin, either alone or as accompanying the idiomatic answer: Niin, huomenna.
In fill-out forms and similar contexts, the alternatives are typically Kyllä and Ei. This is so common nowadays that deviating from it might even cause some confusion. Instead of kyllä, the abbreviation OK (pronounced oo koo) is used especially in user interfaces of computer programs.
In prose, the old system is still good style, though language authorities now accept the new style as well. Using Kyllä alone as an answer in a dialogue may cause ambiguity: in the old system, a mere Kyllä answer is possible in some contexts, but it may carry a special meaning, when pronounced with special intonation. For example, with strong raising tone on the first syllable, Kyllä expresses astonishment for asking something obvious.
A question like “Don’t you like garlic?” can be described as a negative yes/no question. In Finnish, they follow the general pattern of yes/no questions, with the negation verb as the focus word that gets the kO suffix, e.g. Etkö pidä valkosipulista?
Answers are similar to those of other yes/no questions, e.g. En pidä (or just En) or Pidän.
A question that asks for a choice between two (or more) alternatives using the conjunction vai looks like a yes/no question, since it has the kO suffix, e.g. Tuletko bussilla vai taksilla? (Will you come by bus or by taxi?) Here the answer is expected to consist of one of the alternatives, e.g. essentially Bussilla or Taksilla (or maybe e.g. Tulen taksilla).
Questions of other types normally start with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, such as kuka (who), mikä (what, which), millainen (what kind of), koska (when), or kuinka (how). The answer can be a complete sentence, as in the following:
– Mitä söit aamiaiseksi? (What did you have for breakfast?)
– Söin voileivän. (I had a sandwich.)
However, conversations like this are common only in language textbooks. We normally answer with some relevant word or words only. In the example, we would omit the verb söin (I had, literally: I ate) and say just Voileivän. Note that the noun is still in the case form that it would have if the answer were a complete sentence, such as in the genitive (the case of an object) here.
Similarly, the question Missä asut? (Where do you live?) is normally answered using a place name in an appropriate form, in the inessive or in the adessive, e.g. Helsingissä or Vantaalla instead of the nominative forms Helsinki or Vantaa. In language textbooks, you might answer with a complete sentence, like Asun Helsingissä. In everyday speech, if you find a mere place noun as too abrupt, you would say Mä asun Helsingissä.
The adverb entä can be used at the start of a question, even preceding a word with the interrogative suffix kO. It binds the question to a previous question and its answer, usually a negative answer. In English, you might use “But what about…” in the same context. An example of a simple dialogue:
In the example, entä effectively repeats the previous question so that one part is changed. An entä statement could present a completely new question, yet related in meaning to the previous one. Example: Entä voisimmeko me tulla teille? (But could we come to you?)
In English, we often use short clauses that are formally questions but in reality modify a statement, as in “The weather is very nice, isn’t it?” In Finnish, a structurally similar sentence like Sää on hyvin kaunis, eikö olekin? is possible but clearly expects an answer; the kin suffix is here obligatory.
When no answer is expected, a statement with a pA suffix on the predicate is often used, e.g. Onpa kaunis sää! or Onpas kaunis sää! Such a statement may start with the initial particle no: No onpa kaunis sää! Apart from that, the statement starts with the predicate, e.g. Laulaapa hän kauniisti (He sings beautifully, doesn’t he?); compare with the normal statement Hän laulaa kauniisti. In negative statements, the suffix is appended to the negation verb, e.g. Eipä se kauan kestänyt (It didn’t last long, did it?).
When the statement mentions something that is expected to be well known to the listener from experience, the hAn suffix is used on the first word, e.g. Sinähän olet opettaja (You are a teacher, aren’t you).
The example Sää on hyvin kaunis, eikö olekin? above illustrates the structure of question clauses that ask the listener to support the opinion or observation expressed. The clause eikö olekin is formed from the negative statement ei ole by adding the question suffix kO and the word-like suffix kin. Note that the “positive” suffix kin is used here, instead of its normal negative counterpart kAAn. The expected affirmative answer is On (or, in modern language, Kyllä), often accompanied with additional words, like On todellakin! (It indeed is). To express disagreement, the answer needs to explain one’s own position, e.g. No ei minusta (Well, not in my opinion).
The clause varies by the primary clause, e.g. Tapasimme viime viikolla, emmekö tavanneetkin? As mentioned above, such formulations request for a response, as opposite to simple statements like Mehän tapasimme viime viikolla (which would be a normal translation of English “We met last week, didn’t we?”). In this example, the short answer Tapasimme would be too abrupt in most situations; e.g. Niin tapasimme or Tapasimme kyllä is more normal.
To ask for a confirmation for a negative statement, we use a clause with the corresponding positive verb form with the kO suffix, preceded by the conjunction vai (or), e.g. Me emme ole ennen käyneet täällä, vai olemmeko? (We have not been here before, or have we?) The expected answer is Emme (or, in modern language, Ei). To express disagreement, the answer needs to be longer and explanatory, e.g. Olemme kyllä, viime vuonna (Oh but we have, last year).