mikä

Mikä is a Finnish interrogative pronoun and determiner that translates to what or which in English. It is used to ask questions about identity, nature, or specification of a noun, and it can appear both before a noun and as a standalone question word.

In use, mikä precedes a singular noun to ask about a single item, as in Mikä kirja on pöydällä? (Which book is on the table?) It can also function as a determiner before a noun, as in Mikä väri sopii sinulle? (What color suits you?). For plural references, the form changes to mitkä, as in Mitkä kirjat ovat pöydällä? (Which books are on the table?)

Grammatically, mikä inflects for case and number. Common singular forms include nominative mikä, genitive minkä, and partitive mitä. The plural nominative form is mitkä, and other plural forms follow standard Finnish declension patterns. The exact endings in plural cases vary with the noun they accompany and the sentence structure.

Nuances in usage include distinctions from mitä. Mikä is typically used when the speaker has a defined set of possibilities or is asking about identity within a category, whereas mitä is used for more open-ended questions about objects or actions. Mikä can also appear in exclamations or fixed phrases to express emphasis.

See also: Finnish grammar, interrogative pronouns in Finnish, Finnish noun declensions.