Naurava lapsi juoksee koiran perässä olohuoneessa.

A laughing child runs after the dog in the living room.

Breakdown of Naurava lapsi juoksee koiran perässä olohuoneessa.

• koira: the dog
• lapsi: the child
• -ssa: in
• olohuone: the living room
• juosta: to run
• naurava: laughing
• perässä: after

Questions & Answers about Naurava lapsi juoksee koiran perässä olohuoneessa.

What exactly is naurava, and why is it used before lapsi?

Naurava is the present active participle of the verb nauraa (to laugh).

• nauraa → naurava = laughing (as an adjective or descriptive word)
• naurava lapsi = the laughing child / a child who is laughing

In Finnish, these -va/-vä forms are often used before a noun like adjectives to describe that noun. So instead of a relative clause like “the child who is laughing”, Finnish can say naurava lapsi.

Why is it naurava lapsi, not something like lapsi naurava?

In normal Finnish word order, adjectives and participles come before the noun they describe:

• naurava lapsi = laughing child
• iloinen lapsi = happy child

Putting it after the noun (lapsi naurava) sounds ungrammatical in standard Finnish.
If you want the describing part after the noun, you usually switch to a relative clause:

• lapsi, joka nauraa = the child who is laughing

Why is lapsi in this basic form (without an ending) and not lasta or lapsen?

Lapsi is in the nominative singular form, because it is the subject of the sentence:

• Kuka juoksee? → lapsi juoksee.

Other forms would mean something else:

• lasta = partitive (e.g. näen lasta – I see a child, ongoing/partial)
• lapsen = genitive (e.g. lapsen lelu – the child’s toy)

For a simple subject in a normal statement, Finnish uses nominative: lapsi juoksee.

How does naurava agree with lapsi? Would it change form in other cases?

Adjectives and participles in Finnish agree with the noun in number and case.

Here it is:

• naurava lapsi
  
  • both are singular nominative

If the noun changed case or number, naurava would usually change too:

• näen nauravan lapsen (object, genitive singular)
• puhun nauravasta lapsesta (elative singular)
• nauravat lapset (plural nominative)
• näen nauravat lapset (plural object, nominative)

Finnish has no grammatical gender, so naurava does not change for “he/she”; only for case and number.

Why is it juoksee and not something like on juoksee for “is running”?

Finnish does not use a separate “is” for the English progressive form (is running, is laughing, etc.).

The present tense form juoksee covers both:

• lapsi juoksee = the child runs or the child is running

Using on juoksee would be wrong. The verb juosta is simply conjugated:

• minä juoksen
• sinä juokset
• hän juoksee
• me juoksemme
• te juoksette
• he juoksevat

What is going on with koiran perässä? Why koiran, and what is perässä?

This is a very typical Finnish postposition phrase:

• koira = dog
• koiran = genitive of koira (of the dog)
• perä = back, rear
• perässä = “in the back / at the rear” → here: behind, after

Perässä is a postposition that requires the genitive:

• koiran perässä = behind the dog / after the dog

Structure:

• [GENITIVE noun] + postposition
  
  • koiran perässä
  • talon edessä (in front of the house)
  • pöydän alla (under the table)

Could I say koiraa perässä instead of koiran perässä?

No. Perässä requires the genitive case, not the partitive.

• ✅ koiran perässä
• ❌ koiraa perässä

The pattern to remember:

• GENITIVE + perässä = behind / after something

So you always use the -n form before perässä.

What exactly does perässä mean here? Is it “after” or “behind”? Are there alternatives?

Perässä generally means physically behind, following after:

• juosta koiran perässä = to run after the dog / to run behind the dog

Nuance:

• perässä often has the idea of actively following something.
• takana = behind (static location, not so much chasing or following)
  
  • koiran takana = behind the dog (just located there)

So:

• lapsi juoksee koiran perässä = the child is running after the dog, following it.
• lapsi seisoo koiran takana = the child is standing behind the dog.

Why is olohuoneessa used, and what case is that?

Olohuoneessa is the inessive case of olohuone (living room):

• olohuone → olohuoneessa = in the living room

The -ssa/-ssä ending often means “in, inside”:

• talossa = in the house
• kaupassa = in the shop / at the store
• olohuoneessa = in the living room

English in the living room is normally expressed in Finnish with the inessive case, not with a separate preposition.

Can I move olohuoneessa or koiran perässä around in the sentence, or must they be in this order?

Finnish word order is flexible, especially for adverbials (time, place, manner). All of these are grammatically possible, with slight differences in emphasis:

• Naurava lapsi juoksee koiran perässä olohuoneessa.

  • Neutral: a laughing child is running after the dog in the living room.

• Naurava lapsi juoksee olohuoneessa koiran perässä.

  • Slight emphasis that the running in the living room is after the dog.

• Olohuoneessa naurava lapsi juoksee koiran perässä.

  • Emphasis on in the living room; sets the scene first.

The original sentence is the most neutral and typical, but moving these elements is allowed.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before lapsi, koira, or olohuone?

Finnish has no articles (no direct equivalents of English a/an or the).

Whether you translate lapsi as a child or the child depends on context, not on any special word or ending in Finnish:

• lapsi juoksee = a child is running / the child is running
• koiran perässä = after a dog / after the dog

The sentence Naurava lapsi juoksee koiran perässä olohuoneessa can naturally be translated as:

• A laughing child is running after a dog in the living room.
  or
• The laughing child is running after the dog in the living room.

The choice is made in English, not marked in Finnish.