Breakdown of Päättäväinen nainen uskoo voittavansa.
nainen
woman
uskoa
to believe
voittaa
to win
päättäväinen
determined
Questions & Answers about Päättäväinen nainen uskoo voittavansa.
Why isn't there a word for "she" (like hänen) before voittavansa?
Because of the rule of syntactic coreference. When the subject of the main verb (nainen) is the exact same person as the subject of the action in the participle phrase, you must leave out the genitive pronoun (hänen). The possessive suffix -nsa on the end of voittavansa is enough to show who is doing the winning.
How does voittavansa show that she will win in the future, rather than having won in the past?
Voittavansa is built from the present active participle (voittava). In this referative construction, the present participle expresses an action happening at the same time as the main verb, or in the future. If she believed she had already won, you would use the past participle instead: voittaneensa.
How would you say this sentence using a normal että (that) clause?
You would say: Päättäväinen nainen uskoo, että hän voittaa. The participle construction used here is just a more advanced, condensed way of saying the exact same thing without needing the conjunction että.
If the sentence was "The determined women believe they will win", would the word voittavansa change?