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Elke kleine succeservaring is belangrijk om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen.

Elke kleine succeservaring is belangrijk om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen.
Every small success experience is important to motivate people to keep practicing.
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Questions & Answers about Elke kleine succeservaring is belangrijk om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen.

Why is it Elke kleine succeservaring and not Elk kleine succeservaring or Elke klein succeservaring?

Two things are going on here: the word for “each/every” and adjective endings.

  1. Elke vs. elk

    • Elke is used with “de”-words (common gender).
    • Elk is used with “het”-words (neuter).
    • Succeservaring is a “de”-word, so you must say elke succeservaring.
    • If it were a neuter word like het probleem, you’d say elk probleem.

  2. Kleine vs. klein

    • Before a singular “de”-word with any determiner (de, een, elke, etc.), the adjective gets -e:
      • de kleine auto
      • een kleine auto
      • elke kleine auto
    • So it must be kleine succeservaring, not klein succeservaring.

So: Elke (because “de”-word) + kleine (adjective before a “de”-word noun with a determiner) + succeservaring.

What exactly does succeservaring mean, and how is this compound formed?

Succeservaring is a compound noun:

  • succes = success
  • ervaring = experience
    → succeservaring = a success experience, i.e. an experience of success, a small success, a moment where you feel you succeeded.

Some extra points:

  • It’s written as one word in Dutch: succeservaring, not succes ervaring.
  • It is a “de”-word: de succeservaring.
  • Plural: succeservaringen.
  • In English you’d normally say little success, small success, successful experience, or success experience, depending on context. Here it’s more like “each small experience of success”.
Why is the verb is singular? Could you ever say zijn belangrijk here?

The subject is Elke kleine succeservaring:

  • Elke = each/every → this always refers to one item at a time.
  • So grammatically it’s singular.

That’s why we say:

  • Elke kleine succeservaring is belangrijk...
    (Each small success experience is important...)

If you made the subject plural, you’d change both the noun and the verb:

  • Kleine succeservaringen zijn belangrijk om mensen te motiveren...
    (Small success experiences are important to motivate people...)
Why is it om mensen te motiveren and not something like om motiveren mensen?

Dutch uses the om... te + infinitive structure to express purpose (“in order to ...”). The pattern is:

om + [object(s)/extra information] + te + [infinitive]

So:

  • om → in order to
  • mensen → people (object of “motiveren”)
  • te motiveren → to motivate

Correct structure:

  • ✔ om mensen te motiveren

Incorrect:

  • ✘ om motiveren mensen (wrong order & missing “te”)

The infinitive (dictionary form) of the verb motiveren is motiveren, so it stays like that after te.

Why are there two om’s: om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen?

There are actually two separate purpose clauses:

  1. ... is belangrijk om mensen te motiveren ...
    → is important in order to motivate people

  2. ... om verder te oefenen
    → in order to keep practicing / to continue practicing

Each om introduces its own “om... te” purpose structure:

  • om mensen te motiveren (first purpose)
  • om verder te oefenen (second purpose, dependent on “motiveren”: people are motivated in order to keep practicing)

You can’t just reuse the first om for the second verb; each “om... te” purpose clause needs its own om.

What does verder add here? How is it different from just om te oefenen?

Verder literally means “further” / “onwards” / “continuing”.

  • om te oefenen = in order to practice
  • om verder te oefenen = in order to keep/continue practicing

So verder adds the idea that people are already practicing, and you want them to go on, not stop. In English you’d often translate it as:

  • to keep practicing
  • to continue practicing
  • to practice further
Why is there no article before mensen? Why not om de mensen te motiveren?

In Dutch, bare plurals (plural nouns without an article) are often used for people or things in general:

  • mensen = people (in general)
  • de mensen = the people (a specific group of people you have in mind)

Here, the sentence talks about people in general, so:

  • om mensen te motiveren = to motivate people (in general)
  • om de mensen te motiveren would mean to motivate the people (a particular group already known from context).

That’s why there is no article before mensen in this generic statement.

Why is the adjective kleine placed before the noun, not after it, like in some languages?

In Dutch, adjectives that describe a noun directly usually come before the noun:

  • een kleine succeservaring (a small success experience)
  • een moeilijke taak (a difficult task)

Adjectives come after the noun only in specific patterns, typically with zijn or other linking verbs:

  • De succeservaring is klein.
    (The success experience is small.)

So:

  • Attributive (before a noun): kleine succeservaring
  • Predicative (after a linking verb): succeservaring is klein

In this sentence, kleine is attributive, so it comes before succeservaring.

Could you drop om and just say ... is belangrijk mensen te motiveren ...?

Yes, in formal or written Dutch, you sometimes see om dropped in “om te”-clauses:

  • Het is belangrijk mensen te motiveren.

This is grammatically acceptable, but:

  • In everyday spoken Dutch, om is usually kept:
    Het is belangrijk om mensen te motiveren.
  • Keeping om makes the sentence more natural and clear for learners.

In your sentence, om mensen te motiveren is the most natural form, especially for learners or neutral spoken language.

Could the sentence also be Elke kleine succeservaring is belangrijk om verder te oefenen, without mensen te motiveren?

Yes, that’s a perfectly correct and natural sentence:

  • Elke kleine succeservaring is belangrijk om verder te oefenen.
    (Every small success experience is important to keep practicing.)

The meaning shifts slightly:

  • With om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen:
    • Focus: These successes are important because they motivate people to keep practicing.
  • Without mensen te motiveren:
    • Focus: These successes are important for continuing practice (more directly connected to the act of practicing itself).

Both are grammatically fine; they just put the emphasis in a slightly different place.

Why is it te oefenen and not something like te oefen or oefent?

After te, Dutch uses the infinitive form of the verb (the dictionary form):

  • infinitive: oefenen (to practice)
  • present tense 3rd person singular: oefent (he/she practices)

The structure is:

  • om te oefenen = in order to practice

So you must say:

  • ✔ te oefenen (infinitive)
  • ✘ te oefen (not a valid form)
  • ✘ te oefent (wrong form after “te”)
How close is the word order om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen to English word order?

The Dutch and English orders are actually quite parallel here:

  • Dutch: om mensen te motiveren om verder te oefenen
  • English: to motivate people to keep practicing

Element by element:

  • om ↔ to (in order to)
  • mensen ↔ people
  • te motiveren ↔ to motivate
  • om ↔ (again) to
  • verder ↔ keep / continue / further
  • te oefenen ↔ practicing / to practice

The main difference is that Dutch uses om te + infinitive, while English uses to + verb or to keep + -ing. But the sequence of ideas is almost the same.