Ylläpitävätkö

Ylläpitävätko is a Finnish verbal form used to form yes–no questions from the verb ylläpitää, which means to maintain, keep up, or manage. The form combines the present tense, third-person plural of the verb (ylläpitävät) with the interrogative particle ko/kö, producing ylläpitävätko. The -ko/-kö suffix follows vowel harmony, so the correct spelling reflects the last vowel of the stem. In this case, the stem yle is marked by ä, a front vowel, so the form is written with kö: ylläpitävätkö.

Usage and meaning: Ylläpitävätko is used to ask whether a group of people or entities maintains something. The subject is often implicit in Finnish, so the sentence can stand without an explicit pronoun (for example, he, ne). It is common in contexts such as business, IT, infrastructure, and public administration, where questions about ongoing maintenance or management are relevant.

Examples:

- Ylläpitävätko he tätä järjestelmää säännöllisesti? (Do they maintain this system regularly?)

- Ylläpitävätko yritykset verkon turvallisuusohjeita? (Do the companies maintain the network security guidelines?)

Pronunciation and form: The word is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, as is typical in Finnish. The interrogative suffix -ko/-kö is attached directly to the verb form, and the overall sentence carries the characteristic Finnish question intonation.

See also: The base verb ylläpitää, its other finite forms (e.g., ylläpitää, ylläpitävät), and other Finnish interrogative particles such as -ko/-kö used with different verb forms.