Breakdown of Minun täytyy pakottaa itseni, koska tavoite on vaikea.
olla
to be
minä
I
koska
because
vaikea
difficult / hard
täytyä
to have to
itse
self, oneself
pakottaa
to force
tavoite
goal
Questions & Answers about Minun täytyy pakottaa itseni, koska tavoite on vaikea.
How does the word itseni work in this sentence?
Itseni means "myself". It is formed by combining the reflexive pronoun itse (self) with the first-person possessive suffix -ni (my). Because the logical subject of the sentence is "I", the reflexive pronoun must match it with the -ni ending.
Why does the sentence start with Minun instead of Minä?
Normally, the object of a täytyy sentence is in its basic form without an -n ending. Does itseni break this rule?
No! The -n you see is just the first letter of the possessive suffix -ni. When you add a possessive suffix to a word, both the basic form (nominative) and the -n form (genitive) of itse end up looking exactly the same: itseni. It fits the rule perfectly without you having to worry about which case it is.
If I want to say "I force" in a normal sentence, how does the verb pakottaa change?
Pakottaa undergoes consonant gradation. When you conjugate it for "I", the strong double -tt- weakens to a single -t-, making it pakotan (I force). In this sentence, it stays pakottaa because it's in the basic infinitive (dictionary) form after täytyy.
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