Hän valehteli rahasta.

he/she

Breakdown of Hän valehteli rahasta.

• raha: the money
• valehdella: to lie (tell an untruth)

Questions & Answers about Hän valehteli rahasta.

What does hän mean here? Does it mean he or she?

Hän can mean either he or she. Standard Finnish does not mark gender in third-person singular pronouns.

So:

• hän = he / she
• the sentence does not tell you the person’s gender

This is very normal in Finnish. If the gender matters, it usually has to be understood from context.

What is the basic dictionary form of valehteli?

The dictionary form is valehdella, meaning to lie.

In the sentence, valehteli is the finite verb form built from valehdella.

So:

• valehdella = to lie
• valehteli = lied

What tense and person is valehteli?

Valehteli is:

• past tense
• third person singular

So it means he/she lied.

You can compare:

• minä valehtelin = I lied
• hän valehteli = he/she lied
• he valehtelivat = they lied

How is valehteli formed from valehdella?