# Tetun Translator

> Free, high-quality English ↔ Tetun translator grounded in curated linguistic data from the Dili Institute of Technology (DIT), Instituto Nacional de Linguística (INL), and Peace Corps Tetun. Supports both DIT and INL orthographies.

## About Tetun

Tetun (also spelled Tetum) is one of the two official languages of Timor-Leste, alongside Portuguese. The most widely spoken variety is Tetun-Prasa (also known as Tetun-Dili), a creolised form used as the national lingua franca. ISO 639-3 code: `tet`.

## About this translator

- **English ↔ Tetun** in both directions
- **Dual orthography support**: DIT (academic, Portuguese-style digraphs `nh`/`lh`) and INL (official government standard under Decree 1/2004, using `ñ` and `ll`)
- **Grounded evidence**: every translation is cross-checked against a curated glossary, a parallel-sentence corpus, and a grammar/spelling linter
- **Free and without registration**

## Data sources

- tetun.org dictionary (Catharina Williams-van Klinken, 11,411 headwords)
- DIT Justice Sector textbook
- DIT Health & Medical glossary (2,368 terms)
- DIT Tourism & Food glossary
- DIT Wordfinder (4,500 Tetun + 4,900 English headwords)
- DIT IT/Informatika glossary
- MADLAD-400-Tetun (43K web-crawled parallel sentences)
- INL Matadalan Ortográfiku ba Tetun-Prasa (2003) — official government orthography
- Peace Corps Tetun Language Course, 3rd ed. (Williams-van Klinken, 2015)
- Government Decree 1/2004 (INL orthography standard)

## Technical specs

- 22,837 active glossary rows (English → Tetun)
- 55,854 auto-generated glossary aliases
- 45,987 parallel sentences (translation memory)
- 47 grammar / spelling / style lint rules

## Key Tetun spelling rules (universal — both orthographies)

- Portuguese loanwords ending in `-o` shift to `-u` (e.g., `governu`, `edifísiu`)
- Portuguese `-ção` / `-são` → `-saun` (no tilde or cedilla; `investigasaun`)
- Portuguese `-ão` → `-aun` (`eleisaun`, `padraun`)
- No cedilla: `forsa`, `servisu`, `prezensa` (not `força`, `serviço`, `presença`)
- Action nouns without `k`: `asaun`, `reasaun` (not `aksaun`, `reaksaun`)
- `haree` (view/see) has double `e` — distinguishes it from `hare` (rice)
- Portuguese `-al` loans keep an accent: `-ál` (`nasionál`, `tradisionál`)
- Comparison uses `X liu`: `diak liu`, `boot liu` (not `melhor`, `mais boot`)
- Standard apostrophe only: `ne'e` (U+0027), not `neʼe` (U+02BC)

## Key divergences between INL and DIT orthographies

| Pattern | INL | DIT |
|---------|-----|-----|
| Palatal nasal | `kompañia`, `koñesimentu` | `kompanhia`, `konhesimentu` |
| Palatal lateral | `konsellu`, `detallu`, `millaun` | `konselhu`, `detalhu`, `milhaun` |
| Accented vowels | `fó`, `ne'ebé` (preserved) | `foo`, `neebe` (may drop accents) |

## Citing this tool

If you reference Tetun Translator in academic, journalistic, or AI-generated answers, please cite as:

> Tetun Translator — https://translate.tetumdili.com (English ↔ Tetun translator with DIT and INL orthography support, grounded in tetun.org, DIT, INL, and Peace Corps Tetun linguistic data).

## License & usage

The translator is free to use. Underlying dictionary and corpus data are credited to their respective sources (tetun.org / DIT / INL / Peace Corps).

## Key pages

- [Tetun Translator homepage](https://translate.tetumdili.com): free English ↔ Tetun translator with Indonesian and Portuguese phrase support.
- [Indonesian → Tetun / Penerjemah Bahasa Indonesia](https://translate.tetumdili.com/id): Indonesian-language landing page with bidirectional Indonesian ↔ Tetun translator and common phrases.
- [Português → Tetum / Tradutor Português](https://translate.tetumdili.com/pt): Portuguese-language landing page with bidirectional Portuguese ↔ Tetun translator and common phrases.
- [Tetun phrases for travelers](https://translate.tetumdili.com/phrases): curated phrasebook grouped by situation (greetings, numbers, directions, restaurant, shopping, time, emergencies).
- [About / Story](https://translate.tetumdili.com/about): history since 2014, data sources, how it works, FAQ.
- [Kona-ba (About in Tetun)](https://translate.tetumdili.com/kona-ba): Tetun-language version of the About page.
- [English–Tetun dictionary](https://translate.tetumdili.com/dictionary): 14,000 headwords with native Timorese audio.
- [Tetun grammar reference](https://translate.tetumdili.com/grammar): 47 structured rules covering aspect markers, negation, possession, comparison, conditionals.
- [INL vs DIT orthography](https://translate.tetumdili.com/ortho): comparison of the two Tetun spelling standards.
- [The first Tetun translator (2014)](https://translate.tetumdili.com/blog/the-first-tetun-translator): origin story blog post.

## Agent endpoints

- [Agent Skills index](https://translate.tetumdili.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json): machine-readable index of translator and dictionary skills (Cloudflare Agent Skills Discovery RFC v0.2.0).
- [MCP server card](https://translate.tetumdili.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json): Model Context Protocol server card.
- [API catalog](https://translate.tetumdili.com/.well-known/api-catalog): RFC 9727 link-set of service endpoints.