Abél was put in prison without the court giving any justification. He still doesn’t know what he is guilty of. in Tetun
Abél tama prizaun la iha justifikasaun husi tribunál. To'o oras ne'e nia la hatene nia sala saida.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Negation
la — 'not' (general negation)
laPlaced before verbs and adjectives to negate them. For contrastive 'not X but Y' use 'laós'; for 'not yet' use 'seidauk'; for 'no longer' wrap 'la ... ona' around the verb.
Possession
nia / nian — possession
nia'nia' goes BEFORE the thing possessed; 'nian' goes AFTER. Both function the same way; position decides which form. 'nia' is also the 3rd-person pronoun (he / she / it) — disambiguate by position.
More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.
Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.
Related phrases
- Isaias servisu nu'udar guarda prizioneiru iha prizaun Becora.Isaias works as a prison guard in Becora prison.
- Ha'u nia kaneta been maran ona, hakerek la moos ona.My fountain pen is dry, it doesn’t write well any more.
- Labarik ne'e loroloron mai eskola, maibé beik nafatin.This child comes to school every day, but still doesn’t learn.
- Nasaun ne'e la iha sensura. Leitór sira bele post komentáriu saida de'it.This nation doesn't have censorship. Readers can post any comments at all.
- Ha'u dansa maran mós la buat ida, naran katak dansa!Even if I dance without any food or drink, that's fine, so long as I dance!
- Avoo mane nia matan malahuk ona, nia presiza kaer ai-tonka hodi la'o.Grandfather doesn’t see well any more. He needs to hold on to a walking stick to walk.