perään

Perään is a Finnish directional particle derived from the noun perä, meaning tail or rear. It is used to express pursuit or following behind, typically with verbs of motion. In practice, the construction conveys that the subject goes after and follows another person or thing.

Common usages include phrases such as mennä perään or juosta perään, which translate roughly to “to go after” or “to run after.” The form is often positioned after the verb (and after any object) and can be used with different subjects and objects depending on who or what is being followed. Perään emphasizes movement toward the pursued target rather than a static position.

Perään is contrasted with perässä, which describes being behind or in the rear of something rather than moving after it. For example, perään focuses on the act of following, while perässä describes a location or position in a line or queue.

In everyday Finnish, perään is common in spoken language and in narrative to convey pursuit, chasing, or sequential following. It may appear with various pronouns or noun phrases, and its exact inflection can depend on the surrounding sentence structure.

Etymology and related forms: perään originates from perä (tail/rear) and uses a directional inflection that marks motion toward or after. Related terms include perä (tail), perässä (behind/in the rear), and idiomatic extensions where the core meaning of following or pursuing can extend to rhetorical or figurative uses.