Breakdown of Sanoipa poliisi mitä tahansa, lähdesuoja on tärkeä painostuksesta huolimatta.
olla
to be
mikä
what
sanoa
to say
poliisi
the police / police officer
tärkeä
important
tahansa
any / -ever
huolimatta
despite
lähdesuoja
source protection
painostus
pressure (coercion)
Questions & Answers about Sanoipa poliisi mitä tahansa, lähdesuoja on tärkeä painostuksesta huolimatta.
How exactly does the 'Whatever the police say' structure work with sanoipa and mitä tahansa?
In Finnish, this concessive structure starts with the verb, attaches the emphatic clitic -pa or -pä, and is followed by the subject. Then comes the interrogative pronoun (here, mitä) and the word tahansa. The whole combination sanoipa ... mitä tahansa creates the meaning 'whatever [subject] says'.
The English translation says 'Whatever the police say', but isn't sanoipa in the past tense?
Yes, sanoipa uses the past tense form sanoi. In these concessive -pa ... tahansa structures, Finnish frequently uses the past tense to frame the action as hypothetical or generalized, even when English naturally uses the present tense.
Why is the word for pressure, painostus, in the elative case (painostuksesta)?
This is required by the word huolimatta (despite). In Finnish, huolimatta acts as a postposition that strictly dictates the preceding word must be in the elative case (-sta or -stä).
What are the component parts of the word lähdesuoja?
It is a compound of lähde (source) and suoja (protection or cover). While lähde can also mean a water spring, in legal and journalistic contexts lähdesuoja refers specifically to the right to protect confidential sources.
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