mikä
Finnish
Etymology
From Proto-Finnic *mi, from Proto-Uralic *mi. The nominative and genitive singular forms, which would have otherwise been monosyllabic, have been extended with -kä (as with joka and kuka), possibly even in Proto-Finnic (*mikä), as reflected in Ingrian mikä and Voro mikä. Other cognates include Estonian mis, Veps mi, Erzya мезе (meze), мее (meje), Komi-Zyrian мый (myj), Hungarian mi.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmikæ/, [ˈmik̟æ]
Audio: (file) Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ikæ
- Syllabification(key): mi‧kä
- Hyphenation(key): mi‧kä
Pronoun
mikä
- (interrogative) what, which
- Mikä tuo on?
- What is that?
- Mitä teet?
- What are you doing?
- Minkä annoksen tilasit?
- Which dish did you order?
- (relative) which, that, what (see usage notes)
Usage notes
- (relative) As a relative pronoun, mikä is used as follows:
Use of mikä as a relative pronoun
- the previous clause or sentence (joka is used instead with individual words or phrases)
- Kaikki menikin lopulta hyvin, mikä oli suuri helpotus.
- Ultimately, everything went well which was a great relief.
- superlative or a noun modified by a superlative
- Se on parasta, mitä minulle on koskaan tapahtunut.
- It/That is the best that has ever happened to me.
- Se on paras elokuva, minkä (~jonka) olen koskaan nähnyt.
- It/That is the best film that I have ever seen.
- a pronoun not referring to a person (for a person, joka is used), when referring to a broadly abstract or undefined concept (as opposed to joka for concrete, well-defined concepts)
- Hän todisti sen, mikä oli todistettavissa.
- He proved what was provable.
- Hän sai sen, mitä halusi.
- He got what he wanted.
- Hän todisti kaiken, mikä oli todistettavissa.
- He proved everything that was provable.
- when used as a kind of independent relative pronoun which has no referent in the previous clause: kuka is used for persons in this case
- Hän sai mitä halusi.
- He got what he wanted.
- En tiedä mitä hän haluaa.
- I don't know what he wants.
- sometimes in the locative cases even when referring to the previous word when used to signify location or direction (in free variation with joka)
- paikka, jossa kävimme / paikka, missä kävimme ― the place (that) we visited
- mikä may behave as an indefinite pronoun with an additional word like ikinä, hyvänsä, tahansa (after mikä), or vaikka (before mikä). Some relative uses may also be indefinite:
- Oli mikä oli. (dismissive nuance)
- Whatever it was.
- (literally, “[It] was what [it] was.”)
Determiner
mikä
Inflection
- Irregular. Some cases are never used.
Declension of mikä
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Synonyms
- (relative): mi (archaic, poetic)
Derived terms
compounds
Further reading
- “mikä”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023
Anagrams
Ingrian
Alternative forms
- mi (rare)
Etymology
From Proto-Finnic *mikä. Cognates include Estonian mis and Finnish mikä.
Pronunciation
- (Ala-Laukaa) IPA(key): /ˈmikæ/, [ˈmikæ]
- (Soikkola) IPA(key): /ˈmikæ/, [ˈmiɡ̊æ]
- Rhymes: -ikæ
- Hyphenation: mi‧kä
Pronoun
mikä
- (interrogative) what?
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 42:
- Mikä ono, arvatkaa?
- What is it, guess?
- (indefinite) whatever
- (relative) which, that, what
- 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 52:
- Möö määmmä sitä teetä, minen näytti meille Lenin.
- We follow this way, which Lenin showed us.
Declension
| Declension of mikä | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | mikä | mit |
| genitive | minen | |
| partitive | mitä | |
| illative | mihe | |
| inessive | mis | |
| elative | mist | |
| allative | mille | |
| adessive | mil | |
| ablative | milt | |
| translative | miks | |
| essive | minennä | |
| *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) | ||
Derived terms
References
- V. I. Junus (1936), Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka[2], Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 100
- Ruben E. Nirvi (1971), Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 309
- Olga I. Konkova; Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014), Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку[3], →ISBN, page 73
Votic
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Finnic *mikä, from Proto-Uralic *mi.
The -k- being retained before the front vowel -ä (instead of mitšä, attested in Kattila but possibly a hypercorrection) is irregular for an inherited word, and has not been fully explained. Its broad distribution makes it unlikely that it would (solely) represent influence from Ingrian or Finnish, although some degree of influence is likely.
Pronunciation
- (Luutsa, Liivtšülä) IPA(key): /ˈmikæ/, [ˈmʲikʲæ]
- Rhymes: -ikæ
- Hyphenation: mi‧kä
Pronoun
mikä
Determiner
mikä
- synonym of milläin (“what kind of, which”)
Inflection
| Inflection of mikä | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | mikä | migäd mined |
| genitive | migä mine |
— |
| accusative | migä mine |
— |
| partitive | mitä | — |
| illative | migäse, miggä minese, minne |
— |
| inessive | migäz minez |
— |
| elative | migässe minesse |
— |
| allative | migäle minelle |
— |
| adessive | migälle minelle |
— |
| ablative | migälte minelte |
— |
| translative | migässi minessi |
— |
| **) the terminative is formed by adding the suffix -ssaa to the short illative (sg) or the genitive. ***) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka to the genitive. | ||