Voisitko

Voisitko is a Finnish grammatical form used to make polite requests. It represents the second-person singular conditional of the verb voida, meaning “to be able to.” The word combines voisi-, the conditional stem, with the question particle -ko, producing a phrasing that translates roughly as “could you” or “would you be able to.”

In practice, voisitko is used to soften commands or requests in everyday speech. It can begin a question or appear within a sentence, for example: Voisitko auttaa minua? (Could you help me?) or Voisitko kertoa, missä on asema? (Could you tell me where the station is?). The construction implies the listener’s ability and willingness to help.

For plural address, the corresponding form is voisitteko, used when speaking to more than one person, as in Voisitteko auttaa? (Could you all help?)

Voisitko is versatile and common in informal to semi-formal settings. It can be made even more polite with add-ons like “voisitko ystävällisesti” (could you, please) or by using more formal alternatives in specific contexts. The phrase does not require a stated subject, as the person addressed is understood from the verb form.

In summary, voisitko is the standard Finnish polite request form meaning “could you,” widely used across everyday conversations and adaptable to various levels of politeness.