Breakdown of Целеустремлённый студент сам формирует свой успех.
студент
student (m)
свой
one's own
успех
success
сам
oneself (сам, сама, само, сами)
Questions & Answers about Целеустремлённый студент сам формирует свой успех.
How is the word целеустремлённый built?
It is a compound adjective made from цель (goal or target) and the passive participle of устремить (to direct or aim). Literally, it means 'goal-directed', which translates perfectly to 'purposeful' or 'goal-oriented'.
We have both сам and свой in this sentence. What different jobs are they doing here?
сам (himself) emphasizes that the student does the action independently, without help. свой (his own) is the reflexive possessive pronoun showing that the success belongs to the subject of the sentence. Using его успех instead of свой успех would imply he is shaping some other guy's success.
Why doesn't the ending of успех change here, since it is the direct object?
успех is an inanimate masculine noun. For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative case (used for direct objects) is identical to the nominative case. If the object were an animate masculine noun or any feminine noun, you would see the ending change.
Why use the imperfective verb формирует here instead of a perfective equivalent like сформирует?
The sentence describes a general truth or a continuous, habitual process. A purposeful student is always in the process of shaping their success. The perfective сформирует would imply a single, completed action in the future, changing the meaning to 'will shape'.