mikä
Finnish
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Finnic *mi, from Proto-Uralic *mi. The nominative and genitive singular forms, which would have otherwise been monosyllabic, have been extended with -kä (as with joka and kuka), possibly even in Proto-Finnic (*mikä), as reflected in Ingrian mikä and Voro mikä. Other cognates include Estonian mis, Veps mi, Erzya мезе (meźe), мее (meje), Komi-Zyrian мый (myj), Hungarian mi.
Pronunciation
editPronoun
editmikä
- (interrogative) what, which
- Mikä tuo on?
- What is that?
- Mitä teet?
- What are you doing?
- Minkä annoksen tilasit?
- Which dish did you order?
- (relative) which, that, what (see usage notes)
Usage notes
edit- (relative) mikä is used to refer to:
- the previous clause or sentence (joka is used instead with individual words or phrases)
- Kaikki menikin lopulta hyvin, mikä oli suuri helpotus.
- Ultimately, everything went well which was a great relief.
- superlative or a noun modified by a superlative
- Se on parasta, mitä minulle on koskaan tapahtunut.
- It/That is the best that has ever happened to me.
- Se on paras elokuva, minkä (~jonka) olen koskaan nähnyt.
- It/That is the best film that I have ever seen.
- a pronoun not referring to a person (for a person, joka is used), when referring to a broadly abstract or undefined concept (as opposed to joka for concrete, well-defined concepts)
- Hän todisti sen, mikä oli todistettavissa.
- He proved what was provable.
- Hän sai sen, mitä halusi.
- He got what he wanted.
- Hän todisti kaiken, mikä oli todistettavissa.
- He proved everything that was provable.
- when used as a kind of independent relative pronoun which has no referent in the previous clause: kuka is used for persons in this case
- Hän sai mitä halusi.
- He got what he wanted.
- En tiedä mitä hän haluaa.
- I don't know what he wants.
- sometimes in the locative cases even when referring to the previous word when used to signify location or direction (in free variation with joka)
- paikka, jossa kävimme / paikka, missä kävimme ― the place (that) we visited
- the previous clause or sentence (joka is used instead with individual words or phrases)
- mikä may behave as an indefinite pronoun with an additional word like ikinä, hyvänsä, tahansa (after mikä), or vaikka (before mikä). Some relative uses may also be indefinite:
- Oli mikä oli. (dismissive nuance)
- Whatever it was.
- (literally, “[It] was what [it] was.”)
Determiner
editmikä
Inflection
edit- Irregular. Some cases are never used.
Declension of mikä
|
Synonyms
edit- (relative): mi (archaic, poetic)
Derived terms
edit- kuin mikä
- mihinkään
- mihinpäin
- mikin
- mikäkin
- mikäli
- mikälie
- mikään
- millainen
- milloin
- milloin mikäkin
- miltei
- mimmoinen
- minkinlainen
- minkähintainen
- minkäikäinen
- minkäkinlainen
- minkäkokoinen
- minkälainen
- minkäluonteinen
- minkämaalainen
- minkämakuinen
- minkämerkkinen
- minkäniminen
- minkänäköinen
- minkävärinen
- minkäänarvoinen
- minkäännäköinen
- minne
- mistäpäin
- miten
- mitätön
Further reading
edit- “mikä”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-01
Anagrams
editIngrian
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Finnic *mikä. Cognates include Estonian mis and Finnish mikä.
Pronunciation
edit- (Ala-Laukaa) IPA(key): /ˈmikæ/, [ˈmikæ]
- (Soikkola) IPA(key): /ˈmikæ/, [ˈmiɡ̊æ]
- Rhymes: -ikæ
- Hyphenation: mi‧kä
Pronoun
editmikä
- (interrogative) what?
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 42:
- Mikä ono, arvatkaa?
- What is it, guess?
- (indefinite) whatever
- (relative) which, that, what
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 52:
- Möö määmmä sitä teetä, minen näytti meille Lenin.
- We follow this way, which Lenin showed us.
Declension
editDeclension of mikä | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | mikä | mit |
genitive | minen | |
partitive | mitä | |
illative | mihe | |
inessive | mis | |
elative | mist | |
allative | mille | |
adessive | mil | |
ablative | milt | |
translative | miks | |
essive | minennä | |
*) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) |
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- V. I. Junus (1936) Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka[2], Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 100
- Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 309
- Olga I. Konkova, Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014) Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку[3], →ISBN, page 73
Votic
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Finnic *mikä, from Proto-Uralic *mi.
Pronunciation
editPronoun
editmikä
Determiner
editmikä
- Synonym of milläin (“what kind of, which”)
Inflection
editInflection of mikä | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | mikä | migäd |
genitive | migä | — |
accusative | migä | — |
partitive | mitä | — |
illative | migäse | — |
inessive | migäz | — |
elative | migässe | — |
allative | migäle migälle |
— |
adessive | migälle | — |
ablative | migälte | — |
translative | migässi | — |
**) the terminative is formed by adding the suffix -ssaa to the short illative (sg) or the genitive. ***) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka to the genitive. |
Categories:
- Finnish terms inherited from Proto-Finnic
- Finnish terms derived from Proto-Finnic
- Finnish terms inherited from Proto-Uralic
- Finnish terms derived from Proto-Uralic
- Finnish terms suffixed with -ka
- Finnish 2-syllable words
- Finnish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Finnish terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:Finnish/ikæ
- Rhymes:Finnish/ikæ/2 syllables
- Finnish lemmas
- Finnish pronouns
- Finnish terms with usage examples
- Finnish determiners
- Finnish interrogative pronouns
- Finnish indefinite pronouns
- Finnish relative pronouns
- Finnish interrogative determiners
- Ingrian terms derived from Proto-Uralic
- Ingrian terms inherited from Proto-Finnic
- Ingrian terms derived from Proto-Finnic
- Ingrian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Ingrian/ikæ
- Rhymes:Ingrian/ikæ/2 syllables
- Ingrian lemmas
- Ingrian pronouns
- Ingrian interrogative pronouns
- Ingrian relative pronouns
- Ingrian indefinite pronouns
- Ingrian terms with quotations
- Votic terms inherited from Proto-Finnic
- Votic terms derived from Proto-Finnic
- Votic terms inherited from Proto-Uralic
- Votic terms derived from Proto-Uralic
- Votic terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Votic/ikæ
- Rhymes:Votic/ikæ/2 syllables
- Votic lemmas
- Votic pronouns
- Votic determiners