to motivate
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to motivate
To encourage or inspire someone to do something specific by giving them reasons or incentives.
Der Trainer versucht, die Mannschaft vor dem wichtigen Spiel zu motivieren.
The coach is trying to motivate the team before the important game.
'Motivieren' (to motivate) belongs to a word family related to reasons and drive. 'Die Motivation' (motivation) is the inner drive, and 'das Motiv' (motive) is the reason behind an action.
Geld war sein einziges Motiv für den Jobwechsel.
Money was his only motive for changing jobs.
When motivating someone to do a specific activity, you use the structure: 'jemanden (Akkusativ) zu etwas (Dativ) motivieren' (to motivate someone to do something).
Ihre Freunde motivierten sie zur Teilnahme am Marathon.
Her friends motivated her to participate in the marathon.
When a person drives themselves to do something, the verb is used reflexively: 'sich motivieren' (to motivate oneself). Here too, the preposition 'zu' often follows, with the goal in the dative.
Ich kann mich einfach nicht zum Aufräumen motivieren.
I simply can't motivate myself to clean up.
The meaning 'begründen' (to justify) is used almost exclusively in formal, scientific, or academic texts. This meaning is not used in everyday speech.
Der Antragsteller muss seine Entscheidung für das Projekt schriftlich motivieren.
The applicant must justify his decision for the project in writing.
to convince
'überzeugen' and 'motivieren' can both mean that you influence another person. The difference lies in the goal. With 'überzeugen', you want someone to accept an opinion or believe that something is right. With 'motivieren', you want someone to get the desire or energy to do something. So you can first convince someone that an idea makes sense and then motivate them to actually join in. The words can be confused because both have to do with reasons and arguments. A simple guide is: 'überzeugen' fits more with opinions, while 'motivieren' fits more with actions.
Vor dem Gespräch motiviert Herr Krüger sein Team mit einer kurzen E-Mail.
Before the meeting, Mr. Krüger motivates his team with a short email.
Eva hat mich überzeugt, dass der Termin trotz des schlechten Wetters wichtig ist.
Eva convinced me that the appointment is important despite the bad weather.