Questions & Answers about Onpa taivas pimeä! Tänään on nimittäin pimennys.
Why is nimittäin placed after the verb instead of at the beginning of the sentence?
Unlike conjunctions such as koska (because), nimittäin usually doesn't start a clause. It typically appears as a delayed connector, placed right after the first main element of the sentence and the verb (here, after Tänään on). It acts as an explanation for the previous statement, much like adding ", you see" to the end of an English sentence.
What is the role of the -pa ending on onpa?
The suffix -pa is an emphatic clitic. When attached to the verb at the beginning of a sentence, it often expresses surprise, wonder, or sudden realization. Here, onpa changes a plain statement like "The sky is dark" into an exclamation meaning "The sky is so dark!"
Why doesn't the second sentence start with the subject, like Pimennys on nimittäin tänään?
This is an existential sentence, which in Finnish typically follows a Setting + Verb + Subject structure. Tänään acts as the setting (when it happens), followed by the verb on, and the new information—the subject pimennys—comes at the end. Saying Pimennys on tänään would mean "The eclipse is today", which assumes the listener already knew an eclipse was happening.
Is pimennys (eclipse) related to the adjective pimeä (dark) used in the first sentence?