Breakdown of Hän on lukevinaan, kun hän välttelee katsettani.
olla
to be
hän
he / she
lukea
to read
kun
when (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Hän on lukevinaan, kun hän välttelee katsettani.
How exactly is the word lukevinaan built from the verb lukea?
The quasi-construction meaning "to pretend to do" is built using the present active participle. You take the strong verb stem (luke-), add the participle ending (-va / -vä), the plural marker (-i-), the case ending (-na / -nä), and finally the possessive suffix that matches the subject (here, -an for hän). Put together: luke- + -va- + -i- + -na- + -an = lukevinaan.
Why does lukevinaan take the third-person suffix -an instead of -nsa?
Both -an and -nsa are valid third-person possessive suffixes in Finnish. However, in this specific construction, the shorter vowel + -n suffix is almost exclusively used. Saying lukevinansa sounds clunky, so Finnish speakers naturally prefer the smoother-sounding lukevinaan.
The dictionary form here is vältellä. How does it differ in meaning from the base verb välttää (to avoid)?