Breakdown of Kun saavutan tavoitteen, palkitsen itseni.
itse
self, oneself
kun
when (conjunction)
saavuttaa
to reach
tavoite
goal
palkita
to reward
Questions & Answers about Kun saavutan tavoitteen, palkitsen itseni.
Why does the word for 'myself' have the ending -ni in itseni?
itse means 'self', and to specify who it refers to, Finnish attaches a possessive suffix. Here, we add the first-person singular suffix -ni ('my') to create 'myself'. Even though it is the direct object of the verb palkitsen and would normally need an accusative -n ending, that -n always drops away when a possessive suffix is added. So, we are left with just itse + -ni.
Why is 'the goal' written as tavoitteen instead of its basic form tavoite?
tavoitteen is the direct object of the verb saavutan (I achieve). Because you are achieving the entire goal, the object takes the accusative case, which looks like the genitive -n for singular nouns. Notice that for words ending in -e like tavoite, the stem doubles that final vowel to tavoittee- before adding the -n.
The dictionary form for 'to reward' is palkita. How does it become palkitsen?
palkita is a Type 5 verb (verbs ending in -ita or -itä). To conjugate these verbs, you replace the final -a with -se- before adding your personal ending. So, palkita becomes the stem palkitse-, and adding the first-person ending -n gives us palkitsen.
Why is there only one t in saavutan when its basic verb form is saavuttaa?
This is due to consonant gradation. The double tt in the basic form saavuttaa weakens to a single t because adding the first-person ending -n closes the final syllable (-tan).
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