Selittäisitteko

Selittäisitteko is a Finnish verb form used to politely ask someone to explain something. It comes from the verb selittää, meaning "to explain," combined with the conditional mood suffix -isi- and the second-person plural/polite ending -tte, with the question particle -ko. The base conditional form is selittäisitte; adding the interrogative -ko turns it into a question: selittäisitteko? The subject (te, you) is usually implied by the ending, though it can be made explicit for emphasis, e.g., Te selittäisitteko minulle tämän kohdan?

The phrase is mildly formal and common in both spoken and written Finnish when requesting clarification from more than one person or from someone to whom one wishes to show respect. It is often preferred over direct imperatives in contexts such as asking a lecturer, colleague, or service representative. Alternatives with different nuance include voisittekko/voisitteko selittää (could you explain) for a less formal tone, or selittäisitkö (would you explain) in more casual settings. In everyday usage, selittäisitteko is typically used without an explicit subject pronoun, relying on the verb ending to convey the intended reader or listener.

Examples: “Selittäisitteko, miten tämä järjestelmä toimii?” and “Voisitteko selittää tämän kohdan minulle?” The construction demonstrates Finnish politeness strategies in requests and illustrates how mood, modality, and interrogative particles interact in question formation.