Questions & Answers about Tämähän on asian ydin!
What exactly does the clitic -hän add to Tämä on asian ydin?
The -hän clitic often translates to "after all" or "as we know," but here it carries a tone of sudden realization or emphasis, like "Why, this is the core of the matter!" It highlights Tämä as the crucial piece of information that ties a conversation together.
Why use asian ydin instead of asian sydän?
While English uses "heart of the matter," Finnish specifically uses ydin (core, nucleus, pith) for the central or most important point of an abstract issue. Using sydän (heart) here would sound unnatural, as it is mostly reserved for the physical organ or romantic emotions.
How does this sentence relate to the se, mikä focus structures (pseudo-clefts) we are currently learning?
Pseudo-clefts like Se, mikä on tärkeintä... (That which is most important...) are used to build suspense and heavily emphasize the end of a sentence. This sentence achieves a similar strong focus, but does it by putting the key information at the very beginning using a fronted demonstrative (Tämä) paired with the emphatic clitic -hän. Both are B2-level tools for managing how information flows.
Could we flip the word order to Asian ydinhän tämä on?