Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.

This routine helps me to calm down before the game.

Breakdown of Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.

• tämä: this
• minä: me
• ennen: before
• auttaa: to help
• rauhoittua: to calm down
• peli: the game
• rutiini: the routine

Questions & Answers about Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.

Why is it minua here and not minä or minut?

Finnish is using a case form of the pronoun minä (“I”).

• minä = nominative (subject form, “I”)
• minua = partitive (“me” as an incomplete / affected object)
• minut = accusative/“total object” (“me” as a whole, result reached)

The verb auttaa (“to help”) normally takes its object in the partitive when you mean help someone:

• Autan sinua. – I help you.
• Tämä rutiini auttaa minua. – This routine helps me.

So in Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan, minua is the person being helped, and auttaa is one of those verbs that typically require the partitive for the person who is helped.

You see minut with auttaa mainly when expressing a clear, completed result:

• Hän auttoi minut ylös. – He helped me up.
  (Result: I ended up standing.)

In your sentence, the focus is on an ongoing process (“helps me to calm down”), so the partitive minua is used.

What exactly is rauhoittumaan? Which verb form is this and how is it built?

Rauhoittumaan is an infinitive form, not a finite verb. More precisely, it is:

• the 3rd infinitive (also called the -ma/-mä infinitive)
• in the illative case (ending -an / -än or -maan / -mään)

Base verb: rauhoittua – “to calm down”

Formation:

1. Take the verb stem: rauhoittu-
2. Form the 3rd infinitive stem: rauhoittuma-
3. Add the illative ending: -an, realized here as -an
   • an extra m:
     • rauhoittuma
       • an → rauhoittumaan

So structurally you have:

• rauhoittua → rauhoittuma (3rd infinitive stem) → rauhoittumaan (illative of that infinitive)

Function:
The 3rd infinitive in illative often means “into doing X / to do X (as a goal or process)” and appears after verbs like:

• mennä nukkumaan – to go to sleep
• auttaa oppimaan – to help (someone) learn
• aloittaa syömään (colloquial; standard: aloittaa syömisen) – to start eating

Here, auttaa … rauhoittumaan = “helps (me) to calm down”.

Why is it auttaa … rauhoittumaan and not auttaa … rauhoittua?

With verbs like auttaa (“to help”), the most natural and common pattern in Finnish is:

auttaa + (object in partitive) + 3rd infinitive (illative)
auttaa minua rauhoittumaan

This structure expresses helping someone in the process of doing something / to get into a state:

• auttaa lasta nukahtamaan – helps the child fall asleep
• auttaa oppimaan suomea – helps (someone) learn Finnish

Using the basic infinitive (rauhoittua) after auttaa is not idiomatic here. You may see auttaa + basic infinitive occasionally with other verbs or in some fixed patterns, but for this meaning (“helps me to calm down”), auttaa minua rauhoittumaan is the natural way to say it.

Why is it ennen peliä and not ennen peli?

The preposition ennen (“before”) always takes the partitive case.

• ennen
  • partitive:
    • ennen peliä – before the game
    • ennen joulua – before Christmas
    • ennen lomaa – before the holiday

So peli (“game”) must appear in the partitive singular:

• peli (nominative) → peliä (partitive singular)

That’s a general rule:

ennen + partitive
not ennen + nominative

There is no article in Finnish, so ennen peliä can mean “before the game” or “before a game”, depending on context.

Can I say ennen pelin instead of ennen peliä?

As a standalone phrase, ennen pelin is generally not the standard or recommended form. The normal, neutral way is ennen peliä (partitive after ennen).

Where you do see pelin (genitive) is inside a longer expression:

• ennen pelin alkua – before the start of the game
  (literally: “before the game’s beginning”)
• ennen pelin loppua – before the end of the game

Here, pelin is in the genitive because it modifies another noun (alkua, loppua).

So:

• Correct and natural:

  • ennen peliä
  • ennen pelin alkua

• Not standard as a complete phrase:

  • ennen pelin (without another noun after it)

What is the grammatical role and case of Tämä rutiini?

Tämä rutiini is the subject of the sentence.

• Tämä = “this” (demonstrative pronoun)
• rutiini = “routine” (noun)

Both are in the nominative case, which is the default case for a subject.

Word-by-word:

• Tämä rutiini – This routine (subject)
• auttaa – helps (verb)
• minua – me (object, partitive)
• rauhoittumaan – to calm down (3rd infinitive, illative)
• ennen peliä – before the game (prepositional time phrase)

You could also use just Tämä as the subject if context already makes clear that you’re talking about a routine:

• Tämä auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä. – This helps me calm down before the game.

Adding rutiini makes it explicit that “this thing” is a routine.

Can I change the word order, for example Minua auttaa tämä rutiini rauhoittumaan ennen peliä?

Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and your example is grammatically correct.

Different word orders mainly change emphasis:

1. Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.
   – Neutral, topic-first: This routine is what helps me calm down.

2. Minua auttaa tämä rutiini rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.
   – Emphasizes me: it’s me that this routine helps (as opposed to someone else).

3. Rauhoittumaan ennen peliä auttaa tämä rutiini minua.
   – Grammatically possible but sounds stylized/poetic; emphasizes the calming-down-before-the-game part.

For everyday speech and writing, the original word order (Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä) is the most natural.

Can I omit minua and say Tämä rutiini auttaa rauhoittumaan ennen peliä? What changes in meaning?

Yes, you can omit minua, and the sentence is still grammatical and natural:

• Tämä rutiini auttaa rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.

When you drop minua, the meaning becomes more generic:

• With minua:
  Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.
  → Specifically: This routine helps *me calm down before the game.*

• Without minua:
  Tämä rutiini auttaa rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.
  → More like: This routine helps (one / people / you) calm down before the game.

In context (e.g. you’re talking about your own routine), it will often still be understood as “me”, but grammatically it’s broader: it describes the routine as something that generally helps whoever uses it to calm down.

What is the difference between Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä and Tämä rutiini rauhoittaa minua ennen peliä?

Both are correct, but they have a slightly different nuance.

1. Tämä rutiini auttaa minua rauhoittumaan ennen peliä.

   • Verb: auttaa (“helps”) + infinitive rauhoittumaan
   • Emphasis: The routine supports / facilitates my process of calming down.
   • Structure: X helps me (in) getting into a calm state.

2. Tämä rutiini rauhoittaa minua ennen peliä.

   • Verb: rauhoittaa (“to calm [someone/something]” – transitive)
   • Object: minua (partitive, because the calming is ongoing, not “finished”)
   • Emphasis: The routine itself calms me; it directly causes a calming effect.

In practice, both can often be translated as “This routine helps me calm down before the game”, but:

• auttaa… rauhoittumaan sounds a bit more like “helps me get calm”.
• rauhoittaa minua sounds like “calms me down” (more directly causative).