Tetun Translator

Anton promised, "I won't leave you until we die!" His girlfriend laughingly said, "Promise!" in Tetun

Anton promete, "Hau sei la husik ó to'o mate!" Nia doben hamnasa dehan, "O ju!"

English → Tetun phrasebook

Grammar in this phrase

Permission
husik / hataan / foo — permission verbs
husik
Three 'let / allow' verbs. 'husik' = leave, let, allow, abandon; 'husik hela' = leave behind. 'hataan' = agree, permit formally. 'foo' = let, give — also heads compound verbs like 'foo haan' (feed), 'foo hatene ba' (inform).
Aspect markers
sei — 'will' or 'still'
sei
Tetun has no verb conjugation. Aspect and tense are marked by particles. 'sei' sits immediately before the verb — marking a definite future ('will') or a continuative ('still'). Combine with 'hela' after the verb for ongoing action. Negation is 'sei la' = 'will not'.
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.

More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.

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