| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| which, who, that | joka | jotka |
| what | mikä | mitkä |
NB. The indefinite joka does
not decline, although its counterpart jokainen does. For example,
both of the following examples are equivalent to each other and are correct
Finnish:
| Hän kutsui joka pojan luokseen. | S/he invited each boy to his/her place. |
| Hän kutsui jokaisen pojan luokseen. | S/he invited each boy to his/her place. |
Mikä can also be an interrogative. The easiest way to tell if it is an interrogative or a relative pronoun is to try to replace it with joka. If you can replace it with joka, then it is a relative pronoun.
When joka is used in a sentence, it refers back to the word directly in front of it. On the other hand, mikä can refer back to the word before it or the whole sentence.