Kirjastonhoitaja soitti minulle kysyäkseen, haluanko noutaa kirjan vai lukea e-kirjan.

Kirjastonhoitaja means librarian. Finnish often forms compounds by combining words into one:

• kirjasto = library
• hoitaja = caretaker/attendant Together: kirjastonhoitaja = “library attendant” → librarian.

You also see an extra -n- in the middle: kirjasto + n + hoitaja. That -n is the genitive marker used in many compounds, roughly like library’s attendant.

Because the verb soittaa (to call / to ring) uses the pattern soittaa jollekin = “call someone” (literally: ring to someone).

• minulle is the allative case (ending -lle) meaning to me.

So:

• Hän soitti minulle. = He/She called me. Notably, Finnish doesn’t treat “me” here as a direct object.

soitti is simple past (Finnish imperfect): “(he/she) called”. It comes from soittaa:

• soitta-
  • past marker -i-
    • 3rd person ending (often zero) → soitti

Other forms:

• minä soitin = I called
• sinä soitit = you called
• hän soitti = he/she called

kysyäkseen means in order to ask / to ask (as a purpose).

It’s built from the verb kysyä (to ask) using a purpose structure:

• kysyä → 3rd infinitive stem kysyä- → kysyä + kse- + en More usefully to learn: it’s the purpose form = “to (do) in order to …”, and it includes a possessive ending that matches the subject:
• kysyäkseen = “for him/her to ask” (subject is kirjastonhoitaja)
• kysyäkseni = “for me to ask”
• kysyäksesi = “for you to ask”

Because what follows is an indirect question (a subordinate clause):
…, haluanko noutaa kirjan vai lukea e-kirjan. = “… whether I want to …”

Finnish commonly uses a comma before subordinate clauses, especially ones introduced by question structures like this.

haluanko = do I want? (used inside an indirect question here).

It combines:

• haluan = “I want” (verb haluta, 1st person singular ending -n)
• question clitic -ko/-kö = makes it a yes/no question

So:

• haluan = I want
• haluanko = do I want?

The choice -ko vs -kö follows vowel harmony (front vowels → -kö).

They are in the basic infinitive (often called the 1st infinitive):

• noutaa = “to pick up”
• lukea = “to read”

After haluta (“to want”), Finnish typically uses this infinitive:

• Haluan noutaa kirjan. = “I want to pick up the book.”
• Haluan lukea e-kirjan. = “I want to read the e-book.”

Yes, it looks like genitive, but in this context it’s the common total object form (often called accusative in Finnish grammar, though it frequently matches the genitive -n form).

Using kirjan / e-kirjan suggests a complete, bounded action:

• noutaa kirjan = pick up the (whole) book
• lukea e-kirjan = read the e-book (as a complete item)

If you used the partitive (kirjaa / e-kirjaa), it would often suggest an ongoing/partial action, e.g. “read some of the book / be reading the book.”

vai is used when presenting exclusive alternatives in a question: A or B?

• Haluatko kahvia vai teetä? = “Do you want coffee or tea?”

tai is more like or in statements, or when the alternatives aren’t set up as a direct choice question.

Here, because the librarian is asking which option you want, vai fits.

Finnish often uses a hyphen with e- compounds:

• e-kirja = e-book When you add a case ending, it attaches to the whole compound:
• e-kirja (nominative)
• e-kirjan (total object form)
• e-kirjassa (in the e-book)
• e-kirjalle (onto/to the e-book), etc.

The hyphen keeps the structure clear and is standard in Finnish spelling for this kind of prefix.