Nevertheless this use of the negative verb with an infinitive or participle is occasionally found, even in the Kalevala; e.g. xxviii. 262, Sie vanno valat ikuiset ... ei sotia käyäksesi, swear eternal oaths ... that thou willst not go to war. And immediately afterwards, Vannon mie valat vakaiset En kesänä ensimmäisnä ... Saa’a suurihin sotihin, I swear firm oaths that in the first summer ... I will not go to war. Here käyäksesi and saa’a (for käydäksesi and saada) are infinitives constructed with ei and en. In the first passage et would have seemed more natural. So again in xliii. 237, Sanoit et käyväsi sotoa, thou saidst thou wouldst not go to war. As these constructions do not seem capable of being explained by the principles of Finnish syntax, they are probably due to the influence of foreign languages.
INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES.
If an interrogative sentence does not contain an interrogative pronoun or adverb, its character is marked by adding the particle ko or kö to some word in the sentence. Thus one says menettekö kotiin? are you going home? But in such sentences as mihin menette? or kuka menee? it is unnecessary to use ko, as the sentence already contains a word which makes its interrogative character clear. It will be noticed that this use of ko is exactly similar to that of ли in Russian.
The termination ko, kö is added to the word on which the chief interrogative stress is laid.
Tiedättekö mihin hän on lähtenyt? do you know where he is gone? Isäkö sen sanoi? was it the father who said so? Meritsekö aiotte matkustaa? are you thinking of going by sea?
In a negative question the termination kö is always attached to the negative verb. Ettekö ole nähneet häntä? have you not seen him? Eikö jo lakkaa satamasta? hasn’t it stopped raining yet?
In a disjunctive question the particle ko, kö is attached to the first alternative which is connected with the second by the word vai. Poikako se on vai tyttö? is that a boy or a girl?
But if there are two verbs in the sentence ko or kö is added to each. Onko hän vielä kotona vai läksikö? is he still at home or has he started?