In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the question word kuka, which is translated in English as “who”. This issue is much more complicated than in English due to all the cases words can be inflected in.

“Kuka” is one of the interrogative pronouns aka question words. These are one of the many different types of pronouns that exist. The question word kuka is just the tip of the iceberg!

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1. Nominative: Kuka? Ketkä? Who?
2. Partitive: Ketä? Keitä?
3. Genitive: Kenen? Keiden?
4. Adessive: Kenellä? Keillä?
5. Allative: Kenelle? Keille?
6. Ablative: Keneltä? Keiltä?
7. Inessive: Kenessä? Keissä?
8. Illative: Keneen? Keihin?
9. Elative: Kenestä? Keistä?

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1. Nominative: Kuka? Ketkä? Who?

The nominative forms of “who” are kuka in the singular and ketkä in the plural. You use these forms when the question word kuka is the subject of your sentence. Subjects generally express who is the do-er or experiencer of the sentence.

2. Partitive: Ketä? Keitä? Who?

You can start by reading more about the partitive itself to get some background on this issue.

The singular partitive form of kuka is ketä and the plural keitä. These are used pretty rarely. Most of the time, the partitive form of kuka is used for certain types of objects. However, not all objects are automatically put in the partitive. Some of them are also put, for example, in the genitive case.

Ketä and keitä are used when:

1. the sentence’s main verb is a partitive verb (Ketä sinä rakastat? Keitä sinä odotat?)
2. with feeling verbs (Ketä suututtaa niin paljon? Keitä oikein naurattaa näin surullinen asia?)
3. they’re the object in a negative sentence (Ketä sinä et halua ystäväksesi? Keitä ei ole kutsuttu?)

3. Genitive: Kenen? Keiden? Whose?

You could start by reading about the genitive case in general first. Kenen and keiden are translated to English as “whose” when they have their possessive meaning, but in other cases it can also be simple “who”. This is one of the things that makes the question word kuka so complicated.

Kenen and keiden are used when:

1. they’re inquiring about the possession of items (Kenen takki tämä on? Keiden asunto tuo on?)
2. they’re the word connected to a postposition (Kenen kanssa juttelet? Keiden mukaan menet kotiin?)
3. we’re dealing with a necessity sentence (Kenen täytyy siivota tänään? Keiden on pakko tehdä ryhmätyötä yhdessä?)

4. Adessive: Kenellä? Keillä? Who has?

You could start by reading about the adessive case in general first. Kenellä and keillä are often translated as “who has” or “who have”.

They’re used when we’re talking about possession (Kenellä on nälkä? Keillä ei ole tätä paperia?).

5. Allative: Kenelle? Keille? To whom?

You could start by reading about the adessive case in general first. The question words kenelle and keille are usually translated as “to whom”.

Kenelle and keille are mainly used with certain verbs (see: rections) (Kenelle sinä annat paperin? Keille sinä valehtelin?)

6. Ablative: Keneltä? Keiltä? From whom?

You could start by reading about the ablative case in general first. The question words keneltä and keiltä are usually translated as “from who”.

These interrogatives are mainly used with certain verbs (see: rections) (Keneltä sinä sait paperin? Keiltä sinä varastit tämän?)

7. Inessive: Kenessä? Keissä? In who?

It’s hard to find any use for this form. It exists, but mostly as a theoretical option. I suppose you could ask “Kenessä rakkaus asuu?” (In who does love live?) but even that seems awkward.

8. Illative: Keneen? Keihin? To whom?

You could start by reading about the illative case in general first. These interrogatives are mainly used with certain verbs (see: rections).

9. Elative: Kenestä? Keistä? From / about who?

You could start by reading about the elative case in general first. The question words kenestä and keistä are usually translated as “about whom”. These interrogatives are mainly used with certain verbs (see: rections)

Please also check out how to say “nobody“!

That’s all for the question word kuka in its inflected form. Hopefully you found this useful!