Learn Hardcore Russian: Ежедневные усилия постепенно увеличивают мой успех. - Daily efforts gradually increase my success.

In Russian, adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Since усилия is the subject and is plural, ежедневные also has to be plural nominative.

Why is усилия plural? Could I say ежедневное усилие instead?

Усилия is the plural of усилие (effort). Russian often uses the plural to talk about effort in a general, repeated, or accumulated sense:

ежедневные усилия – daily efforts (many acts of effort over time)

You could say ежедневное усилие, but it would sound like you are focusing on one effort per day. The plural is more natural for the idea of consistently putting in effort again and again.

What case is усилия, and how do we know?

Усилия is in the nominative plural, because it is the subject of the sentence:

Subject: Ежедневные усилия
Verb: увеличивают
Object: мой успех

The subject of a Russian sentence is normally in the nominative case, and the verb in the 3rd person plural (увеличивают) agrees with this plural subject.

What case is успех in, and why does it look like the nominative?

Успех is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of the verb увеличивают:

They increase what? → мой успех (direct object, accusative)

For masculine inanimate nouns like успех, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative singular. That is why it looks nominative, even though it is accusative in function.

Why do we say увеличивают мой успех and not use a preposition like на?

The verb увеличивать normally takes a direct object without a preposition:

увеличивать прибыль – to increase profit
увеличивать скорость – to increase speed
увеличивать мой успех – to increase my success

You use на when you specify by how much something increases:

Ежедневные усилия увеличивают мой успех на 10%.
– Daily efforts increase my success by 10%.

Without a specific amount, you simply say увеличивают мой успех, no preposition.

Why is the verb увеличивают plural?

The verb must agree with the subject ежедневные усилия, which is plural:

они (ежедневные усилия) увеличивают
not: увеличивает, because the subject is not singular

Even though in English effort can be uncountable (and take a singular verb: effort increases), in Russian усилия here is clearly plural, so the verb must be plural too.

What is the aspect and tense of увеличивают, and why is that used here?

Увеличивают is:

Aspect: imperfective (увеличивать)
Tense: present, 3rd person plural

Imperfective aspect is used for:

regular, repeated actions
processes and ongoing tendencies
general statements or “laws” (like habits and principles)

The sentence describes a general rule: daily efforts, as a rule, gradually increase success. That is why the imperfective present is the most natural choice.

Could we use the perfective verb увеличить instead? For example: Ежедневные усилия постепенно увеличат мой успех?

Yes, but it changes the meaning:

Ежедневные усилия постепенно увеличивают мой успех.
– States a general fact or ongoing pattern.
Ежедневные усилия постепенно увеличат мой успех.
– Perfective увеличат (future) focuses on the result in the future:
these daily efforts will (eventually) lead to an increase in my success.

So:

увеличивают – describes what generally/regularly happens
увеличат – describes a future outcome that will be achieved

What does постепенно add to the meaning? Could we put it somewhere else in the sentence?

Постепенно means gradually. It tells us how the success increases: not suddenly, but step by step over time.

Word order in Russian is relatively flexible, so you could say:

Ежедневные усилия постепенно увеличивают мой успех. (neutral, common)
Ежедневные усилия увеличивают постепенно мой успех. (less common, slight emphasis on my success)
Постепенно ежедневные усилия увеличивают мой успех. (emphasis on gradually)

The original version is the most natural and neutral.

Why do we use ежедневные instead of a phrase like каждый день?

Both express the idea of every day, but they work differently:

ежедневные усилия – adjective + noun: daily efforts
усилия каждый день – noun + adverbial phrase: efforts every day

You could also say:

Усилия каждый день постепенно увеличивают мой успех.

This is grammatically correct, but ежедневные усилия is shorter and sounds more natural and “packaged” as a fixed idea: efforts that are part of a daily routine.

Is it necessary to say мой успех? Could we just say увеличивают успех?

Мой is not strictly necessary; you can say:

Ежедневные усилия постепенно увеличивают успех.

Without мой, the meaning becomes more general:
“Daily efforts gradually increase success (in general, people’s success).”

With мой, the sentence is clearly personal: it is specifically my success that increases. Both are correct; the choice depends on whether you want a general or personal statement.

Could we use another verb like улучшают or повышают instead of увеличивают? Would the meaning change?

Yes, you could say:

Ежедневные усилия постепенно улучшают мой успех.
Ежедневные усилия постепенно повышают мой успех.

Nuances:

увеличивать – to increase in quantity, amount, level; often more “mathematical” or measurable.
улучшать – to make better in quality (improve).
повышать – to raise, to bring to a higher level (rank, degree, level).

In context:

увеличивают мой успех – my success grows/increases.
улучшают мой успех – sounds a bit odd; usually you улучшаешь результаты, ситуацию, качество, not успех.
повышают мои шансы на успех would be more natural than повышают мой успех.

So увеличивают мой успех is the most natural of these options.

How do you correctly pronounce and stress each word in this sentence?

Approximate stresses (uppercase = stressed syllable):

Ежедневные – ежеДНЕвные (ye-zhe-DNYEV-ny-ye)
усилия – уСИлия (u-SEE-lee-ya)
постепенно – постепЕнно (pas-tee-PYEN-na)
увеличивают – увелиЧивают (oo-vee-LEE-chee-vuyut)
мой – МОЙ (moy)
успех – успЕх (us-PYEKH)

The most important for understanding are усИлия / уси́лия and увели́чивают with stress on ли, and успЕх with stress on the second syllable.