Learn Finnish: Vaimo kunnioittaa häntä.

The verb kunnioittaa (to respect) is what we call a partitive verb. This means the object of the action (the person being respected) must be in the partitive case. Because of this rule, the basic pronoun hän (he/she) changes to its partitive form, häntä.

Could this sentence also mean that the wife respects her?

Yes! The Finnish pronoun hän and its partitive form häntä are completely gender-neutral. Depending on the context of the conversation, this sentence translates to either the wife respects him or the wife respects her.

Why does the verb kunnioittaa look exactly like its dictionary form?

In Finnish, the third-person singular (he/she) form of a verb is usually made by doubling the last vowel of the stem. The dictionary form of this verb is kunnioittaa. Because its stem already ends in a long vowel (a double a), we do not add a third one. It stays exactly the same!

Is the word order strictly subject-verb-object here?

Finnish word order is quite flexible because the word endings tell us who is doing what. You could say Häntä vaimo kunnioittaa, but this moves the emphasis. The original sentence is a neutral statement, while putting the object first emphasizes who is being respected (It is him that the wife respects).