Question 1

What does pieleen literally mean, and why is it in the illative case here?

Accepted Answer

In the phrase mennä pieleen (to go wrong or awry), pieleen is the illative (into) case of the noun pieli, which literally means a doorjamb or an edge. The idiom originally refers to shooting an arrow and hitting the frame instead of the target. As with many state-change idioms using mennä, the illative case is used to show the transition into a new, usually negative, state.

Question 2

Why is the negative form ei kohoa instead of ei kohota?

Accepted Answer

Kohota (to rise) is a Type 4 verb ending in -ota. To find the present tense stem for Type 4 verbs, you drop the -ta ending and add an a or ä. This gives the stem kohoa-. The negative verb form simply uses this strong stem without any personal endings, resulting in ei kohoa.

Question 3

Since kaikki means everything, why does it take the singular verb meni instead of the plural menivät?

Accepted Answer

When kaikki is used as a standalone pronoun meaning "everything", it functions grammatically as a singular concept and takes a singular verb. It only triggers a plural verb when it means "everyone" or when it modifies a plural noun, such as in kaikki asiat menivät (all the things went).

Question 4

Is it natural to mix the present tense (ei kohoa) and past tense (meni) in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it perfectly reflects the cause-and-effect timeline here. The bread is currently failing to rise (ei kohoa in the present tense) because the preparation or ingredients already went wrong beforehand (meni pieleen in the past tense).

Leipä ei kohoa, koska kaikki meni pieleen.

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