Learn Hardcore Finnish: Yritän kuitenkin olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta. - I try, however, to be confident without jealousy and to be happy about others’ success too.

Yritän kuitenkin olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.

I try, however, to be confident without jealousy and to be happy about others’ success too.

Breakdown of Yritän kuitenkin olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.

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Questions & Answers about Yritän kuitenkin olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.

What exactly does kuitenkin mean here, and how is it different from mutta or silti?

Kuitenkin is an adverb that you can translate roughly as “however / still / nevertheless / anyway.”

In this sentence it adds a soft contrast: “I still / nevertheless try to…” It often feels a bit more neutral or softer than mutta.

mutta = “but” (a conjunction, starts a new clause)
- Yritän olla itsevarma, mutta en aina onnistu.
  “I try to be confident, but I don’t always succeed.”
silti and kuitenkin are both adverbs = “still / nevertheless / however”
- En aina onnistu, silti yritän.
- En aina onnistu, yritän kuitenkin.

silti can feel a bit more “despite that”, slightly stronger contrast; kuitenkin can feel a bit more neutral or “anyway”. In many contexts they’re interchangeable.

Word order:

Yritän kuitenkin olla… (most natural here)
Kuitenkin yritän olla… (puts more emphasis on kuitenkin / the contrast)

Why is it yritän olla and iloita, with infinitives, instead of repeating the verb like “yritän… ja yritän…”?

In Finnish, yrittää (“to try”) is normally followed by the A-infinitive (the basic dictionary form):

yritän olla = “I try to be”
yritän iloita = “I try to rejoice”

When you have two actions you’re trying to do, you only need to say yritän once and then list the infinitives:

Yritän olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.
= “I try to be confident without envy and (I try) also to be happy about others’ success.”

You could repeat the verb:

Yritän olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja yritän iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.

This is grammatically fine, but it sounds heavier and more repetitive. The original is more natural and fluent.

Why is it olla itsevarma and not something like olla itsevarmana?

Here itsevarma is a predicative adjective: it describes what the subject (implied “I”) is.

olla + nominative adjective:
- Olen itsevarma. = “I am confident.”
- So olla itsevarma = “to be confident.”

The form itsevarmana (essive case) is used differently, to express a state in which something happens:

Työskentelen itsevarmana.
“I work (while being) confident.”
Hän esiintyy itsevarmana.
“He/she performs (as) confident.”

Here the focus is just on the quality you want to have (“to be confident”), so the normal predicative itsevarma (nominative) is correct.

Why is kateutta in that form after ilman? Why not ilman kateus?

The postposition ilman (“without”) always takes the partitive case.

ilman + partitive
- ilman sokeria = without sugar
- ilman rahaa = without money
- ilman ystäviä = without friends

So:

kateus = “envy” (nominative)
kateutta = “envy” in partitive

Therefore ilman kateutta literally is “without envy” in the normal Finnish structure ilman + partitive.

Why is it iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta and not some other case like onnistumista or onnistuminen?

The verb iloita (“to rejoice, be glad”) is one of those verbs that typically take the elative case (-sta / -stä) to show what you are glad about:

iloita jostakin = “to rejoice / be glad about something”

Examples:

Iloitsen lomasta. = I’m happy about the vacation.
Iloitsen uutisista. = I’m happy about the news.

In your sentence:

onnistuminen = “success” (a noun made from the verb onnistua, “to succeed”)
onnistumisesta = elative form “(about/from) success”

So:

iloita muiden onnistumisesta = “to be happy about others’ success.”

Using onnistumista (partitive) or just onnistuminen would be ungrammatical or at least very odd with iloita, because this verb specifically wants -sta / -stä.

What exactly is muiden, and why is it used without any noun like “muiden ihmisten”?

Muiden is the genitive plural of muu (“other”).

muu = other
muut = the others (nominative plural)
muiden = of the others (genitive plural)

In longer form:

muiden ihmisten onnistumisesta
“about the success of other people”

But if the context is clear (we’re talking about other people), Finnish often drops the noun and uses muiden as a pronoun:

iloita muiden onnistumisesta
= “be happy about the success of others.”

So muiden here basically means “of other people / of others”.

Why is onnistumisesta such a long word? How is it formed?

Onnistumisesta is built in steps:

onnistua = “to succeed” (verb)
Add -minen to make a noun:
onnistuminen = “success” / “the act of succeeding”
Put that noun into the elative case (because of iloita jostakin):
onnistumisesta = “about/from success”

Breakdown:

onnistua → onnistuminen (noun) → onnistumisesta (elative singular)

So the whole phrase muiden onnistumisesta = “about others’ success / successes”.

Where does myös belong in the sentence, and what exactly does it modify?

Myös means “also / too / as well”, and its meaning depends on where you place it.

In the sentence:

…ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.

Here myös is close to muiden onnistumisesta, so it reads as:

“and to also be happy about others’ success (too).”

You could move it:

…ja myös iloita muiden onnistumisesta.
(more neutral; “and also to rejoice about others’ success”)
…ja iloita muidenkin onnistumisesta.
(the -kin adds a “too,” emphasising the others in particular)

All of these are understandable. The original version is natural and suggests that in addition to being confident without envy, you also want to be happy about others’ success.

Could I say iloitsen myös muiden onnistumisesta instead of iloita? What would change?

Yes, you can, but then you must change the sentence structure.

Current structure (one main verb with two infinitives):

Yritän kuitenkin olla itsevarma ilman kateutta
ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta.
= “I try to be… and (to) be happy about…”

If you say iloitsen, you’re introducing a new finite verb, which starts a new clause:

Yritän kuitenkin olla itsevarma ilman kateutta,
ja iloitsen myös muiden onnistumisesta.

Now it’s:

“I try to be confident without envy, and I (actually) am happy about others’ success.”

The nuance:

With iloita (infinitive), both things are things you are trying to do.
With iloitsen, the first part is something you’re trying; the second part is presented more as something you do (a statement of fact).

How is iloita different from olla iloinen?

Both are about feeling happy or glad, but they behave differently grammatically.

iloita jostakin (verb + elative)
- Focus on the action/event of rejoicing.
- Used with -sta/-stä:
  - Iloitsen lomasta. = I’m happy about the vacation.
  - Iloitsen onnistumisestasi. = I’m glad about your success.
olla iloinen jostakin (to be happy)
- olla
  - adjective iloinen.
- Slightly more stative (“to be happy” as a state), but often interchangeable in meaning:
  - Olen iloinen lomasta.
  - Olen iloinen onnistumisestasi.

In your sentence, iloita fits nicely in parallel with another infinitive olla:

olla itsevarma … ja iloita myös muiden onnistumisesta

You could say:

…olla itsevarma ilman kateutta ja olla iloinen myös muiden onnistumisesta.

but repeating olla sounds heavier. iloita keeps the coordination smoother and more natural.

Could I use toisten instead of muiden? Is there a difference?

You could say:

iloita myös toisten onnistumisesta

and it would be understood. But there is a nuance:

muu / muut / muiden = “other, the others” in a more general sense
toinen / toiset / toisten = literally “another / the others”, often implying different ones (as opposed to oneself or some first group)

In practice:

muiden onnistumisesta = “the success of others” (general, neutral)
toisten onnistumisesta = also “others’ success”, but can more easily imply “other people’s (as opposed to us/you/me)” depending on context.

Here muiden is the most common and neutral choice.

Does yritän here mean “I’m trying” right now or “I try (in general)” or even “I will try”?

Finnish present tense covers all of these English uses, so yritän is flexible:

present ongoing: “I’m trying (these days / now)”
habitual: “I try (as a general principle)”
near future: “I will try” (from context)

The exact reading depends on the wider context and time expressions, not on tense morphology.

In this kind of reflective sentence about personal attitude, yritän is usually understood as a general, ongoing effort (“I try / I’m trying (as a rule in my life)”).