ylläpitäkö

Ylläpitäkö is a Finnish verb form derived from the verb ylläpitää, meaning “to maintain” or “to keep up.” The form is produced by adding the question particle -kö/-kö to the present-tense form of ylläpitää. The particle signals a yes–no question, while the person and number are determined by the conjugated verb that precedes it. In other words, -kö itself carries no lexical meaning; it simply marks a question.

As a grammatical construction, ylläpitäkö can appear with different subjects depending on context. For example, with a first-person subject the question would align with the form minä ylläpidän, yielding minä ylläpidänkö? (“Shall I maintain …?”). With a third-person subject the form yhdyttääelbe would be ylläpitääkö? (“Does he/she maintain …?”). In everyday Finnish, speakers often restructure into more common question forms such as “Pitäisikö minun...?”, but the form ylläpitääkö remains a valid, standard interrogative pattern for maintenance-related questions.

Usage notes:

- yleisessä kielenkäytössä ylläpitäkö occurs mainly in written or formal dialogue, or when emphasizing the act of deciding about maintenance actions.

- The word forms inflect for person and number just like other present-tense verb forms; -kö does not indicate person on its own.

- Related terms include ylläpito (maintenance) and other verb-question constructions using -ko/-kö, such as pitäisikö or mitäkö.

See also: Finnish verb conjugation, question particle, maintenance terminology (ylläpito).

This entry treats ylläpitäkö as a standard Finnish grammatical form used to pose questions about maintenance actions, with its meaning and function understood through the broader system of Finnish mood, tense, and question formation.