Delia is sickly. Don’t give her any heavy work. in Tetun
Delia moras atan. La bele husu nia kaer servisu todan.
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.
Possibility & probability
bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility
beleTetun 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.
Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.
Related phrases
- Ha'u nia oan feto Joana ne'e maña liu. se ita la fó osan nia lakohi bá eskola.My daughter Joana is very spoiled. If we don’t give her any money, she refuses to go to school.
- Maria sateia hela de'it nia amá tanba osan.Maria keeps hassling her mother (to give her) money.
- La bele hanaruk tan sira nia kontratu, tanba sira servisu la di'ak!Don't extend their contract, because they don't work well!
- Tia ne'e haluha dór. Ne'ebé lalika fó sasán ba nia hodi lori ba uma.Auntie is forgetful. So don’t give her things to take home.
- Katuas lanu-teen mai atu husu tua. Lalika fó!The old drunkard man came asking for booze. Don’t give him any!
- Nia namoradu ne'e hais nia to'o lima sén mós la iha nia isin!Her boyfriend bled her dry till she didn't even have five cents left on her!