kautta

Kautta is a Finnish postposition meaning through, via, or by means of. It is used to indicate passage along a route, but also to describe the means by which something is done or the duration of a span of time. In most contexts the following noun appears in the genitive case.

Common uses include describing physical passage, such as a road or trail that passes through a location (for example, tie kulkee kautta kaupungin, the road goes through the city). It is also used in expressions that denote time spans or continuity, most famously in kautta aikojen, meaning through the ages.

Kautta is often chosen to emphasize route or method rather than mere location. In contrast, other Finnish prepositions or adverbial phrases can express similar ideas but with different nuance; kautta tends to highlight the path or means involved in the action.

Grammatically, kautta combines with nouns that are typically inflected in the genitive, and it appears in a variety of idiomatic expressions. While it remains a productive and common part of contemporary Finnish, certain fixed phrases may reveal historical usage or stylistic preference.

Translations of kautta are generally approximate and context-dependent, with English equivalents including through, via, and by means of. Its usage is widespread in literature, travel writing, and formal or historical prose, where it often conveys a sense of movement or progression along a route or through a period.

See also: läpi, ohitse, via.