Breakdown of Minä pakotan itseni opiskelemaan.
minä
I
opiskella
to study
itse
self, oneself
pakottaa
to force
Questions & Answers about Minä pakotan itseni opiskelemaan.
Why is the word for "myself" itseni instead of just itse?
When the reflexive pronoun itse (self) is the object of the action, it takes a possessive suffix to show who it refers to. Since the subject is "I", you add the suffix -ni (my) to make itseni (myself).
Why does the verb "to study" end in -maan?
The verb pakottaa (to force) is a verb that demands a specific case from the verb that follows it. When you force someone to do something, the action verb must be in the third infinitive illative form, which ends in -maan or -mään. Here, the dictionary form opiskella transforms into opiskelemaan.
Why is there only one "t" in pakotan?
The dictionary form of the verb is pakottaa. When you conjugate it into the "I" form, the personal ending -n closes the final syllable. This triggers consonant gradation, weakening the strong double "tt" to a single "t".
Is it necessary to include the word Minä at the start of this sentence?
No, it is entirely optional. The verb pakotan and the reflexive pronoun itseni both already make it completely clear that the subject is "I". You will often hear just Pakotan itseni opiskelemaan in everyday Finnish.
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