For vectors $v$, $x$, why does $v^{T}x$ = $v \cdot x$

Question

Let $x = (x_1, x_2, ..., x_n)$ and $v = (\alpha_1, \alpha_2, ..., \alpha_n)$. Shouldn't $v^{T}x$ yield another matrix? I get that it's scalar since the product is a 1 x 1 matrix, but why can we just treat it as the sum $\alpha_1x_1 + \alpha_2x_2 + ... + \alpha_nx_n?$