Tetun Translator

Don’t close the windows because the weather is very hot. in Tetun

La bele taka janela tanba rai manas loos.

English → Tetun phrasebook

Grammar in this phrase

Intensifiers
Intensifiers (loos, tebes, demais, laduun)
loos
Position matters. 'loos' / 'tebes' / 'demais' follow the adjective ('barak loos' = very many). 'laduun' PRECEDES the adjective ('laduun diak' = not very good). 'liu tan' = even more.
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.
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.

Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.