Questions & Answers about Juna menee kauas.
Juna is the basic form (nominative singular) of the noun meaning train.
Finnish does not have articles like a or the, so juna can mean either a train or the train, depending on context. For example:
- If you are talking about trains in general: A train goes far away.
If you already know which train: The train goes far away.
The Finnish sentence itself does not mark this difference; the listener has to infer it from the situation or previous sentences.
In Finnish, the subject of a simple sentence is usually in the nominative singular when it is one, countable thing and the verb is in the normal positive form.
Here:
- Juna = nominative singular, subject
- menee = verb
- kauas = adverb
If you changed the role of juna, you'd change the form. For example, as an object:
- Näen junan. = I see the train.
(juna- -n = junan, object form)
But as the subject of Juna menee kauas, it stays in the basic form juna.
Menee is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb mennä (to go).
- Infinitive: mennä = to go
- hän menee = he / she / it goes
In English, the Finnish present tense can usually be translated as either:
- goes (simple present)
- is going (present continuous)
So Juna menee kauas can mean both The train goes far away and The train is going far away, depending on context. Finnish does not grammatically separate these two the way English does; both are just present tense.
The verb mennä is irregular in spelling, but its pattern is regular in Finnish terms:
- Dictionary form: mennä (to go)
- Stem used for present: mene-
- Personal ending for 3rd person singular: -e (spelled the same as the stem vowel here)
So:
- minä menen = I go
- sinä menet = you go
- hän menee = he / she / it goes
The double e in menee is simply stem e + personal ending e. Mene alone is not a correct finite verb form in standard Finnish in this person; you need menee.
Kauas is an adverb meaning (to) far away / far (in the direction away from here).
It tells you where to the train is going (direction). In this sentence:
- menee = goes
- kauas = to a distant place / far away (from here / now)
So it is not an adjective describing a noun; it is an adverb describing the verb menee.
All of these are related to the stem kaua-, but they express different ideas:
kauas – direction to somewhere far
- Juna menee kauas. = The train goes far away (to a distant place).
kaukaa – from somewhere far (source)
- Juna tulee kaukaa. = The train comes from far away.
kauan – for a long time, about duration, not distance
- Juna odottaa kauan. = The train waits for a long time.
kauaksi – change of state into something far; used with verbs of becoming or turning into something
- Tie jatkuu kauaksi. = The road continues (stretches) far (into the distance).
In Juna menee kauas, we are interested in direction of motion (to where?), so kauas is the right form.
Juna menee kauaksi is not wrong, but it sounds more unusual or literary, and it emphasizes the resulting state (ending up in a far place) rather than just the movement in that direction.
Everyday, neutral speech for goes far away is:
- Juna menee kauas.
Kauas is the standard directional adverb here. Use kauaksi mainly when you want to emphasize a change into some distant extent or state, or in more poetic / stylized language.
You can say Juna menee kauas pois, and it is understandable and used in speech. The nuance:
- Juna menee kauas. = The train goes far away.
- Juna menee kauas pois. = The train goes far away (away from here, off, away).
Pois adds an extra feeling of going off / away from us / disappearing. It makes the sense of leaving slightly stronger. It can sound a bit more emotional or colloquial.
Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, and Kauas juna menee is grammatically correct. However, it changes the emphasis:
- Juna menee kauas. – neutral: the train is the topic, and we say that it goes far.
- Kauas juna menee. – emphasizes how far it goes; could be used in a context like surprise or contrast (Wow, that train really goes far!).
You can also say:
- Juna kauas menee. – more poetic or marked; normal speech prefers Juna menee kauas.
For basic statements, stick to Subject – Verb – (Adverb): Juna menee kauas.
You need plural for both the subject and the verb:
- Junat menevät kauas.
Breakdown:
- juna → junat = trains (nominative plural)
- menee → menevät = they go (3rd person plural of mennä)
- kauas = far away (stays the same; it doesn’t change for plural)
In Finnish, negation uses a special negative verb ei, and the main verb goes to a bare stem form.
- Juna ei mene kauas. = The train does not go far.
Structure:
- juna = train (subject)
- ei = negative verb (3rd person singular here)
- mene = negative form of mennä in 3rd singular
- kauas = far away
So you change menee → ei mene.
Use the past tense (imperfect) of mennä:
- Juna meni kauas. = The train went far away.
Comparison:
- Present: Juna menee kauas. = The train goes / is going far away.
- Past: Juna meni kauas. = The train went far away.
Only the verb form changes; juna and kauas stay the same.
Finnish often uses the same simple past where English uses the present perfect, but there also is a present perfect form:
- Juna on mennyt kauas. = The train has gone far away.
Breakdown:
- on = 3rd person singular of olla (to be / to have in compound tenses)
- mennyt = past participle of mennä
- kauas = far away
So:
- Simple past: Juna meni kauas.
- Present perfect: Juna on mennyt kauas.
In many everyday contexts both may translate to English The train has gone far away, and Finnish speakers often just use meni.
Key points:
j is like English y in yes.
- juna ≈ yoo-nah, with a short u like in put (but rounded).
u is always short here: ju in juna is not like June, but shorter and pure.
e is always eh, not like English ee or ay.
- menee ≈ meh-neh-eh (but spoken smoothly, often like meh-neh with the last two e’s flowing together).
Stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
- JU-na ME-nee KAU-as
au in kauas is a diphthong: start with a as in father, glide to u as in put.
- kauas ≈ kaw-as (one smooth syllable kau
- as).
- kauas ≈ kaw-as (one smooth syllable kau
Say the consonants cleanly and keep vowels clearly separate. Finnish vowels are shorter or longer, but always pure (not gliding like many English vowels).