miksi

Miksi is a Finnish interrogative word that means "why." It is used to ask about reasons or causes and functions as one of Finnish's core question words (kysymyssanat). In direct questions, miten or what? no—"miksi" asks for the reason behind an action or situation. For example: "Miksi hän ei tullut?" translates to "Why didn't he come?"

Miksi also appears in embedded or indirect questions, where the question is reported within another clause. In this use, the verb order follows declarative Finnish. For example: "En tiedä, miksi hän ei tullut" means "I don't know why he didn't come." The form remains the same in embedded questions regardless of person or number.

In everyday Finnish, "miksi" is widely used in both formal and informal contexts. In very formal or stylistically elevated writing, alternative phrases such as "minkä vuoksi" or "millä syyllä" may be employed, but "miksi" remains the standard and most common choice in most contexts.

Colloquial variants exist, notably the shortened form "miks," which appears in casual speech and online communication. There are also hedged or playful forms like "miksiköhän" used to soften or speculate about the reason.

Summary: miks i is the primary Finnish word for asking for reasons, applicable in direct questions and embedded inquiries, with minimal morphology and broad usage across registers. It is closely related to other Finnish question words that form the system used to inquire about persons, things, places, and causes.