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Questions & Answers about Perääntykää alakertaan!
Why is alakertaan in the illative (into) case here?
Finnish uses a strict three-way system for spatial words: location (where), destination (to where), and origin (from where). Because the verb perääntykää (retreat) involves movement towards a destination, that destination must be in the 'to where' (illative) case. This gives us alakertaan (into the downstairs) rather than the static alakerrassa (in the downstairs).
How is the command perääntykää formed?
It is the plural (or formal) imperative of the verb perääntyä (to retreat). You take the infinitive stem peräänty- and add the plural imperative ending -kää. It uses -kää rather than -kaa because of vowel harmony, since the word contains front vowels like ä and y.
Could I use peruuttakaa instead of perääntykää for retreating?
They are similar but have different nuances. Perääntyä specifically means to retreat, yield, or back away from a situation, danger, or argument. Peruuttaa means to mechanically back up or reverse, like driving a car backwards, or to cancel an appointment.
If I wanted to say "retreat FROM downstairs", how would alakertaan change?