etsitäänkö

Etsitäänkö is a Finnish grammatical form that combines the passive present tense of the verb etsiä, meaning to search or seek, with the question particle -kö. The result is a yes/no question that asks whether the action of searching is taking place or should take place. In Finnish, the agent performing the action is often unspecified, which is reflected in the passive voice.

The form is used when the speaker wants to inquire about a search activity in a general or collaborative sense. It is commonly followed by a direct object in the partitive case, which marks indefiniteness, for example kadonnutta avainta (the missing key). The basic construction is etsitäänkö + object, as in questions about whether someone should search for something or whether the search is currently happening.

Grammatically, etsitäänkö consists of the passive present stem etsii- with the passive suffix -tään and the interrogative particle -kö. The particle -kö attaches to the verb form and agrees with Finnish question formation rules; the resulting word is written as a single unit: etsitäänkö. The meaning can shift subtly depending on context: it can ask for permission to search, propose a search, or inquire about an ongoing search.

Examples:

- Etsitäänkö kadonnutta avainta? — Shall we search for the missing key?

- Etsitäänkö ratkaisu tähän ongelmaan? — Shall we look for a solution to this problem?

In English, etsitäänkö conveys either “is it being searched?” or more commonly “shall we search for…?” depending on context.