Koira menee alas portaita.

The dog goes down the stairs.

Breakdown of Koira menee alas portaita.

• koira: the dog
• mennä: to go
• porras: the stair
• alas: down

Questions & Answers about Koira menee alas portaita.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” in Koira menee alas portaita?

Finnish has no articles at all—no equivalents of English “a/an” or “the.”

• Koira just means “dog” in the basic form (nominative).
• Depending on context, koira can be translated as “a dog” or “the dog.”

So:

• Koira menee alas portaita.
  → “A dog goes down the stairs.” or “The dog goes down the stairs.”

English forces you to choose between a and the; Finnish simply leaves that to context and doesn’t mark it in the noun form.

What does menee mean exactly, and why isn’t it something like “is going”?

Menee is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb mennä (“to go”).

• mennä = to go
• hän / koira menee = he/she / the dog goes

The Finnish present tense covers both English:

• “goes” (habitual/general)
• “is going” (right now / progressive)

So Koira menee alas portaita can mean:

• “The dog goes down the stairs.” (a general fact / repeated action)
• “The dog is going down the stairs.” (happening now)

If you really want to stress the ongoing nature, Finnish can also say:

• Koira on menossa alas portaita. = “The dog is in the process of going down the stairs.”

But menee alone is usually enough; context gives the aspect (simple vs progressive).

What is alas grammatically? Is it like the English preposition “down”?

Alas is an adverb meaning “(towards) down, downwards.”

Important points:

• It is not a preposition. Finnish doesn’t use prepositions the same way English does.
• In Koira menee alas portaita, alas tells the direction of movement.
• The “path” of the movement (along what?) is expressed by portaita.

Some related words:

• alas = (motion) down, downwards
• alhaalla = (location) down, below, downstairs
• alhaalta = (from a lower place) from down below
• alle = to under(neath) something (different meaning)

So alas answers “Where to? / In which direction?” rather than functioning as a preposition that takes an object like in English “down the stairs.”

What form is portaita, and why is it used here?

Portaita is the partitive plural of porras (“step”).

Paradigm (simplified):

• porras = step (nominative singular)
• portaat = steps, stairs (nominative plural)
• portaita = steps, stairs (partitive plural)

Here, portaita is used as a partitive of route / path. In Finnish, the partitive plural is common after verbs of movement to indicate movement along / via something:

• Juoksen portaita. = I run (along) the stairs.
• Hän kiipeää portaita. = He/she climbs the stairs.

So in Koira menee alas portaita, portaita describes the route the dog is taking: it goes down along the stairs.

Why is it portaita and not portaat?

Both forms exist and are used, but they give a slightly different nuance.

• Portaita (partitive plural) often emphasizes:

  • movement along the stairs,
  • the process or ongoing nature of the action,
  • not necessarily stressing that the entire set of stairs is completed.

• Portaat (nominative plural, used as a total object) can emphasize:

  • treating the whole staircase as a complete “thing” traversed from top to bottom (or bottom to top).

Compare:

• Koira menee alas portaita.
  Neutral description: the dog is going down (along) the stairs.

• Koira menee portaat alas.
  More like: the dog does the whole flight of stairs down; the entire set of steps is seen as a complete path.

In everyday speech, portaita is very common for this kind of motion. Portaat is also correct but slightly more “total” in feeling and a bit more typical with verbs like juosta (run), nousta (climb up), kiivetä (climb).

The dictionary says porras means “step.” How does that give us “stairs”?

Finnish typically uses the plural of porras to mean “stairs” (as a set of steps):

• porras = (one) step
• portaat = steps, stairs (the whole staircase)
• portaita = (some) steps, along the stairs (partitive plural form)

This is similar to English:

• “a step” (one)
• “the steps / the stairs” (many, often meaning the whole staircase)

So Koira menee alas portaita literally uses the plural “steps,” but in natural English it’s translated as “the dog goes down the stairs.”

Could we say Koira menee portaita alas instead? Does word order matter here?

Yes, Koira menee portaita alas is also grammatical.

Finnish word order is relatively flexible. Both:

• Koira menee alas portaita.
• Koira menee portaita alas.

are fine and usually mean the same thing in neutral context: the dog goes down the stairs.

Subtle tendencies:

• [Verb] + alas + portaita is perhaps slightly more common in everyday speech.
• Moving portaita earlier (menee portaita alas) might very slightly highlight the path (“via the stairs”) before the direction (“down”), but the difference is small.

More marked word orders like:

• Alas portaita menee koira.

are possible, but they add special emphasis (for example, focusing on who is going down, or used in poetic style).

Is portaita the object of the verb menee?

No. Mennä (“to go”) is essentially intransitive here: it doesn’t take a direct object.

• Koira = subject (nominative)
• menee = verb
• alas = directional adverb
• portaita = partitive plural indicating route / path

So portaita is not an object in the sense of “what is being affected”; instead, it shows where the movement takes place, i.e., along the stairs.

This use is often called partitive of route or partitive of path.

Why is menee singular even though portaita is plural?

The verb agrees with the subject, not with other nouns in the sentence.

• Subject: koira (singular) → verb: menee (3rd person singular)
• portaita is plural, but it is not the subject; it’s the path/route complement.

If the subject were plural, the verb would also be plural:

• Koirat menevät alas portaita.
  = The dogs go down the stairs.

Here koirat is plural, so the verb is menevät (3rd person plural).

Could we leave out alas and just say Koira menee portaita?

You can say Koira menee portaita, and it is grammatical, but:

• On its own, it usually means “The dog (regularly) goes by (using) the stairs.”
• It doesn’t clearly say up or down; direction is either vague or taken from context.

If you want to clearly express “down the stairs”, you normally include alas:

• Koira menee alas portaita. = The dog goes down the stairs.
• Koira menee portaita ylös. = The dog goes up the stairs.

So alas (down) or ylös (up) is what specifies the direction.

Can we use other verbs instead of menee, like kävelee or juoksee?

Yes. Many motion verbs work in this structure:

• Koira kävelee alas portaita.
  = The dog walks down the stairs.
• Koira juoksee alas portaita.
  = The dog runs down the stairs.
• Koira tulee alas portaita.
  = The dog comes down the stairs (towards the speaker).
• Koira kiipeää alas portaita.
  = The dog climbs down the stairs.

The pattern stays the same:

[Subject] + [motion verb] + alas/ylös + portaita

The choice of verb adds the manner or viewpoint of movement (walking, running, coming, climbing, etc.).

How would I say “The dog goes up the stairs” using the same pattern?

You mostly just replace alas (“down”) with ylös (“up”):

• Koira menee portaita ylös.
• Koira menee ylös portaita.

Both are used and understood as:

“The dog goes up the stairs.”

Again, portaita is partitive plural of porras, indicating movement along the stairs, and ylös gives the direction (upwards).

Is alas ever inflected for case or changed for person/number?

No. Alas is an adverb, so:

• It does not change for person (no “minä alasen,” etc.).
• It does not take case endings like nouns do.
• It stays alas regardless of subject or context.

Different related meanings (location, source, direction) are expressed with different words, not by inflecting alas itself:

• alas = (motion) down
• alhaalla = (state) down / below
• alhaalta = (from) down below

So in Koira menee alas portaita, alas is a fixed form indicating downward motion.