Learn Hardcore Finnish: Unelmani motivoi minua opiskelemaan enemmän.

The -ni is a 1st-person singular possessive suffix. Unelmani literally means my dream, whereas unelma would simply be a dream or the dream without indicating whose it is.

Why is minua in the partitive case here, rather than minut or minä?

In Finnish, many verbs that express an ongoing or incomplete action toward a person take the person in the partitive. Motivoi (“motivates”) falls into that group, so minua (the partitive form of minä) is used. Minut would be the accusative (complete) object and sounds like “he knocked me down,” which isn’t the sense here.

Why is opiskelemaan in the -maan (illative infinitive) form instead of the basic infinitive opiskella?

After verbs like motivoi, you express the purpose or result of the motivation with the third infinitive in -maan/-mään (illative of the action). So opiskelemaan means “to study” as the goal of the motivating, not just the dictionary form opiskella.

Do we need a conjunction like että or jotta before opiskelemaan enemmän?

No. Since opiskelemaan enemmän is not a full clause but an infinitive phrase showing purpose, Finnish doesn’t insert a conjunction there. You only need että/jotta for subordinate clauses with a finite verb.

What role does enemmän play in the sentence, and why doesn’t it take any case ending?

Enemmän is a comparative adverb meaning more. It modifies the action opiskelemaan (“to study”) and therefore doesn’t carry a case ending. Adverbs in Finnish generally remain unchanged.

Could we change the word order, for example place enemmän earlier or later?

Yes, Finnish has relatively free word order for emphasis. You could say Unelmani motivoi minua enemmän opiskelemaan to stress more, or Unelmani motivoi minua opiskelemaan enemmän to keep the focus on the studying. The meaning stays essentially the same.

Why is Unelmani the subject and minua the object, rather than the other way around?

Grammatically, Unelmani (“my dream”) is what does the motivating—hence the subject in nominative. Minua (“me” in partitive) is the entity being motivated, so it’s the object. In English we’d say “My dream motivates me,” the same roles apply.

Is there any nuance in Finnish that “motivates me to study more” over simply “makes me study more”?

Yes. Motivoi highlights the internal drive or inspiration, not just the external compulsion. If you said Unelmani saa minut opiskelemaan enemmän, that would lean more toward “forces me” or “makes me” study more rather than inspires me.