Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua.

Every success motivates me.

Breakdown of Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua.

• minua: me
• jokainen: every
• motivoida: to motivate
• onnistuminen: the success

Questions & Answers about Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua.

What does jokainen mean here, and how is it different from joka and kaikki?

Jokainen means each / every (one) and is used with a singular noun:
jokainen onnistuminen = each success / every success.

Differences:

• jokainen

  • Stands alone like every / each.
  • Always followed by a singular noun.
  • Example: Jokainen opiskelija saa kirjan. – Every student gets a book.

• joka

  • Often means which / that / who in relative clauses.
  • Also used with time/recurring expressions: joka päivä (every day), joka vuosi (every year).
  • You don’t say *joka onnistuminen in this meaning; you say jokainen onnistuminen.

• kaikki

  • Means all.
  • Usually used with plural count nouns: kaikki onnistumiset (all the successes).
  • Or with mass nouns: kaikki raha (all the money).

So jokainen onnistuminen = each / every success, while kaikki onnistumiset = all (the) successes.

Why is onnistuminen in the singular, even though we say “successes” in English?

In Finnish, jokainen always takes a singular noun:

• jokainen ihminen – every person
• jokainen kirja – every book
• jokainen onnistuminen – every success

Even though the meaning involves more than one success, the grammar treats it as “each individual success”, so the noun is singular.

English often uses a plural (successes) after every, but Finnish keeps it singular after jokainen.

What exactly is onnistuminen, and how is it related to the verb onnistua?

Onnistuminen is a noun derived from the verb onnistua (to succeed).

• Verb: onnistua – to succeed
• Noun: onnistuminen – a success, an act of succeeding

The -minen ending is a common way to create nouns from verbs:

• Lukea (to read) → lukeminen (reading)
• Juosta (to run) → juokseminen (running)
• Onnistua (to succeed) → onnistuminen (a success)

So here onnistuminen is just a normal noun meaning a success.

Why is it motivoi and not motivoivat?

The verb has to agree with the grammatical subject in number.

The subject here is jokainen onnistuminen.

Even though it refers to multiple possible successes, grammatically jokainen behaves like a singular subject, so the verb is 3rd person singular:

• Jokainen opiskelija saa kirjan. – Every student gets a book. (saa, not saavat)
• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua. – Each success motivates me. (motivoi, not motivoivat)

If you used kaikki onnistumiset (plural), then you’d use motivoivat:

• Kaikki onnistumiset motivoivat minua. – All (the) successes motivate me.

What is the base form of motivoi, and how is it conjugated?

The base (dictionary) form is motivoida – to motivate.

It’s a type 2 verb (ending in -da / -dä). Present tense:

• minä motivoin – I motivate
• sinä motivoit – you motivate
• hän motivoi – he/she/it motivates
• me motivoimme – we motivate
• te motivoitte – you (pl) motivate
• he motivoivat – they motivate

So in the sentence:

• motivoi = 3rd person singular present (motivates).

Why is it minua and not minut or minä?

Minua is the partitive form of minä (I).

Relevant forms of minä:

• minä – nominative (subject form): I
• minut – accusative (total object): me as a complete object
• minua – partitive (partial/ongoing/abstract object, or experiencer)

In this sentence:

• minua is used because motivoi describes an ongoing, abstract effect on me (it motivates me in general).
• Many verbs of mental states, feelings, and influence often take the partitive for the person affected.

Compare:

• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua.
  Each success motivates me (in general / to some extent).

• Hän motivoi minut aloittamaan.
  He/she motivated me to start. (here minut suggests a more complete result: I ended up starting)

For everyday purposes, learn that with motivoida, minua is the most natural object form in this kind of general statement.

Is minua the object here, or something else?

Functionally, minua acts as the object-like “experiencer”:

• Jokainen onnistuminen = the thing doing the motivating (subject)
• minua = the one who experiences the effect (object/experiencer)

Traditional school grammar would simply call minua the (partitive) object of motivoi.

More advanced descriptions might talk about it as an experiencer in the partitive case, but for learning purposes you can safely treat it as the object of the verb.

Can I change the word order to Minua motivoi jokainen onnistuminen, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Minua motivoi jokainen onnistuminen.

The basic meaning is the same: Each success motivates me.

The difference is emphasis:

• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua.
  Neutral subject–verb–object order; focus slightly on each success as the subject.

• Minua motivoi jokainen onnistuminen.
  You bring minua to the front, so you slightly emphasize me as the one being motivated (e.g. in contrast to someone else).

But grammatically both are correct and natural.

Can I say Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi mua in spoken Finnish?

Yes. Mua is the colloquial spoken form of minua.

• Standard/written: minua
• Spoken/colloquial: mua

So in everyday speech you’ll hear:

• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi mua.

However, in formal writing (essays, exams, official texts), you should stick to minua.

How do I say “Every success motivates us / you / them” using this pattern?

You keep Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi and just change the partitive pronoun:

• minua – me
• sinua – you (singular)
• häntä – him/her
• meitä – us
• teitä – you (plural / formal)
• heitä – them

Examples:

• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua. – Every success motivates me.
• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi sinua. – Every success motivates you (sg).
• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi häntä. – Every success motivates him/her.
• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi meitä. – Every success motivates us.
• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi teitä. – Every success motivates you (pl/formal).
• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi heitä. – Every success motivates them.

What is the difference between Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua and Kaikki onnistumiset motivoivat minua?

Both can translate as something like Successes motivate me, but there’s a nuance:

• Jokainen onnistuminen motivoi minua.

  • Focus on each individual success: every time I succeed, that event motivates me.
  • Singular noun + singular verb.

• Kaikki onnistumiset motivoivat minua.

  • Focus on all the successes as a group: the whole set of successes motivates me.
  • Plural noun + plural verb.

In many contexts they’re almost interchangeable, but jokainen onnistuminen slightly highlights the motivating power of every single success.

How would I say “Each small success motivates me a little” using this structure?

You can extend the original sentence like this:

• Jokainen pieni onnistuminen motivoi minua vähän.

Breakdown:

• jokainen – each/every
• pieni – small
• onnistuminen – success
• motivoi – motivates
• minua – me (partitive)
• vähän – a little

So: Jokainen pieni onnistuminen motivoi minua vähän. – Each small success motivates me a little.