According to our traditional law, we can't eat dog meat. in Tetun

Grammar in this phrase

• Negation

  la — 'not' (general negation)

  la

  Placed 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.

• Possibility & probability

  bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility

  bele

  Tetun hedges less than English, but has a cluster of markers. 'bele' before the verb = can / may. 'parese' at the start = 'seems'. 'dala ruma' at the start of a clause = 'perhaps, sometimes'. 'kala / kal' before a number = 'approximately'.

More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.

Related phrases

• La bele han ai-fuan ne'e lai, tanba sei tara hela horok. Aban liurai sei hasai horok mak bele han.You can't eat the fruit yet, because it is still under the horok taboo. You can only eat the fruit once the king removes the horok.
• Ita han maek, bele halo ita nia ibun katar to'o bubu.When we eat elephant foot yam, it can make our mouth itchy until it swells up.
• La bele ku'u estraga ai-fuan ne'ebé iha. Han ba sukat ho imi nia kabun.Don't pick the fruit wastefully. Eat up (but) according to what your stomach can accept.
• Ami nia asu hahoris asu oan haat.Our dog gave birth to four puppies.
• Bainhira ami te'in na'an asu sempre uza du'ut morin.When we cook dog meat we always use lemon grass.
• Iha ami nia servisu fatin, só Sesta de'it mak bele uza kalsa jíns.In our work place we can only wear jeans on Fridays.