indirect question marker: whether, if, who, what, where, how ... · Conveys a careful, indirect question. Nowadays typically used with -요 (-yo) for further politeness. · perhaps because...
köken: From Middle Korean -ᄂᆞᆫ디 (Yale: -nonti), equivalent to Middle Korean -ᄂᆞ- (Yale: -no-, present-tense marker) + -ㄴ (Yale: -n, realis adnominal suffix) + ᄃᆞ (Yale: to, semantically light dependent noun) + -이 (Yale: -i).
köken: From Old Norse um, from Proto-Germanic *umbi, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi. * As a conjunction, um superseded or blended with Old Norse ef and em, taking on their function as well. This is from Proto-Germanic *jabai (“when, if”), whence also English if and German ob. Doublet of jäv, direct descendant of ef (see that for more)
interrogative particle: introduces a yes-no question, often omitted; whether
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- Proto-Indo-European *kʷí- Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *kʷíh₁ Proto-Slavic *či Old Polish czy Polish czy Inherited from Old Polish czy.
Czy ten pan jest z Anglii? Tak, ten pan jest z Anglii.
interrogative particle: introduces a question · if, whether
köken: Inherited from Old Ruthenian чи (či), from Old East Slavic чи (či), from Proto-Slavic *či, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷíh₁, initially instrumental singular of pronoun *kʷo-/*kʷe-.
In indirect questions, -ko/-kö appended to the verb corresponds to the conjunctions if and whether in English. · With the particle -han/-hän attached to the topic of discussion, it expresses "I wonder if". · With the negative verb (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät) and the particle -han/-hän, expresses "I suppose".
köken: From Proto-Finnic *-ko, probably ultimately from Proto-Uralic *ko-.
mother (a female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, guardian to, or fostered)) · mother, feminine originator or codifier (as in "the mother of all battles")
köken: Inherited from Proto-Slavic *či, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷíh₁, initially instrumental singular of pronoun *kʷo-/*kʷe-; compare Latin quī (“how? why?”), Avestan 𐬗𐬌𐬱 (ciš), Old Saxon hwi. First attested in the 16th century.
köken: From Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“thus, so”), thought to be a specialized conjunctional usage of the Proto-Indo-European root's usual "to fit" meaning. Cognate with Latvian ar (“whether, if, with”), Ancient Greek ἄρα (ára, “then”).
interrogative particle (used when a non-verbal element is fronted for emphasis) · whether, if (used when the subordinate clause has a non-verbal element fronted for emphasis)
köken: May derive from a (interrogative particle) + yw (“is, are”) or from or via the synonymous ae.