Don’t you eat? You look extremely skinny! in Tetun
Han ga lae mak ne'e, ó nia isin ruin maran loos hanesan ne'e!
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Focus
mak — focus marker
mak'mak' focuses the preceding constituent — used when English would bold or cleft ('it was X who...'). Also forms the superlative with 'liu'.
Intensifiers
Intensifiers (loos, tebes, demais, laduun)
loosPosition matters. 'loos' / 'tebes' / 'demais' follow the adjective ('barak loos' = very many). 'laduun' PRECEDES the adjective ('laduun diak' = not very good). 'liu tan' = even more.
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
- Han ga lae mak isin krekas maran hanesan ne'e!Do you eat or not?! You’re so skinny!
- Se ó la han, orsida hamlaha.If you don’t eat, you’ll be hungry later.
- Ha'u la han, la buat ida, basta dansa!If I don't eat, that's OK, so long as I dance!
- La bele hanaruk tan sira nia kontratu, tanba sira servisu la di'ak!Don't extend their contract, because they don't work well!
- Keta naran du'un ema karik ita la hatene problema ne'e nia lala'ok.Don’t arbitrarily accuse people if you don’t know the problem in-depth.
- La bele ku'u estraga ai-fuan ne'ebé iha. Han ba sukat ho imi nia kabun.Don't pick the fruit wastefully. Eat up (but) according to what your stomach can accept.