Atina: Is Paul from America? Marta: No, not from America. He’s from Singapore. in Tetun
Atina: Paul hosi Amérika ka? Marta: Lae, laós hosi Amérika. Nia hosi Singapura.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Negation
laós — contrastive 'not'
laósContrastive negation: 'it's NOT X (but Y)'. Use 'laós' (or 'laos' in DIT-style stripping of accents) when the sentence rejects one identity in favour of another.
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
- Marta aprende Portugés.Marta is learning Portuguese.
- Labarik Paul hakerek uza liman karuk.That kid Paul writes with his left hand.
- Pai bá kontrolu nia saúde iha Singapura.Father went for a health checkup in Singapore.
- Timor-leste esporta kafé barak ba iha Amérika.Timor-Leste exports a lot of coffee to America.
- Marta tara sa'e bebé Alino nia kaan iha haas leten.Marta hung baby Alino’s placenta in the mango tree.
- Ohin loron mestra Marta moras, entaun ha'u mak hanorin fali iha nia fatin.Today teacher Marta is sick, so I am teaching in her place.