Don’t arbitrarily accuse people if you don’t know the problem in-depth. in Tetun
Keta naran du'un ema karik ita la hatene problema ne'e nia lala'ok.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Conditionals
se / karik — conditionals
karik'se' opens a definite conditional ('if X, then Y'). 'karik' sits at the end of a clause and hedges it ('perhaps'); it can also mark an uncertain conditional.
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
- La bele du'un matak ema karik ita la iha evidénsia ne'ebé forte.You can’t just accuse people if you don’t have strong evidence.
- Mestre ho mestra sira nia devér mak lori estudante atu hatene saida mak sira seidauk hatene.It is the duty of teachers to help their students to know things that they don’t yet know.
- Joven kristaun sira tenke haklaken Liafuan Di'ak ba nia maluk joven ne'ebé seidauk koñese Na'i Jesus.Young Christians need to share the gospel with their fellow young people who don't know the Lord Jesus.
- Kuandu ema hala'o edukasaun sívika, sira hanorin povu kona ba lia polítiku nian, no mós kona ba direitu no responsabilidade reinu nian, atu foti povu nia konsiénsia polítiku.When people conduct civic education, they teach the people about political affairs, and also about the rights and responsibilities of the people, to raise their political awareness.
- Se ita nia lider iha kompleksu dé inferioridade maka'as, sei susar tebes defende interese povu nian, tanba la brani kontra ema hosi grupu seluk.If our leaders have a strong inferiority complex, it is difficult for them to defend the interests of the people, because they don't have the courage to oppose people from other groups.
- Ha'u la hatene. Husu to'ok Pedro.I don’t know. Try asking Pedro.