Koira pakeni pihalta.

the dog

Breakdown of Koira pakeni pihalta.

• piha: the yard
• paeta: to flee; escape

Questions & Answers about Koira pakeni pihalta.

Why is there no separate word for from in Koira pakeni pihalta?

In Finnish, ideas like from, in, on, to, and at are often expressed by case endings rather than separate words.

Here, pihalta already includes the meaning from the yard:

• piha = yard
• -lta = from / from off

So pihalta = from the yard.

What case is pihalta?

Pihalta is in the ablative singular.

The ablative ending is usually -lta / -ltä, and it expresses movement away from something, often from an outside surface or area.

A useful set to remember is:

• pihalla = in/at the yard
• pihalle = to the yard
• pihalta = from the yard

So the sentence uses the form that matches movement away: the dog escaped from the yard.

Why is it pihalta and not pihasta?