Questions & Answers about Kirja putoaa alas.
Does kirja mean "a book" or "the book"?
It can mean both! Finnish doesn't have articles like "a" or "the". You figure it out from the context. In this standalone sentence, "The book falls down" sounds the most natural in English.
I looked up "to fall" and it is pudota. Why does it change to putoaa here?
This happens because of a sound rule called consonant gradation. For this specific group of verbs (verb type 4), the dictionary form is "weak" (pudota has a d). When you use it in the present tense, it becomes "strong" and the d changes to a t (putoaa).
Why are there two a's at the end of putoaa?
To say "he/she/it does" something (the third-person singular), Finnish usually doubles the last vowel of the verb stem. The stem for this verb is putoa-. Doubling the last vowel gives us the extra a at the end.
Can I use alhaalla instead of alas for the word "down"?
Not in this sentence. alas is used when there is movement downwards. alhaalla is a location word meaning "down there" or "at the bottom" when something is staying still. Because the book is falling, we need the movement word alas.
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