Dulce and Joana don’t know each other yet. in Tetun

Grammar in this phrase

• Negation

  seidauk — 'not yet'

  seidauk

  Single word covering English 'not yet / hasn't ... yet'. Goes before the verb.

• Reciprocal

  malu — 'each other'

  malu

  'malu' follows the verb to mark reciprocal action. Common in political / news idioms: 'haree malu diak' (get on well), 'diskuti malu' (argue), 'haan malu' (oppose one another), '(liafuan) la haan malu' (testimonies don't match).

More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.

Related phrases

• Sira hirus malu to'o ida-ida buka fatuk hodi tuda malu.They were angry at each other, to the extent that they each looked for rocks and threw them at each other.
• 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.
• Ita mesak raan ida de'it mak haree malu hanesan fali ema seluk!We're all related, yet treat each other as outsiders!
• 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.
• Keta hein malu. Haree servisu sira ne'e, halo uluk bal-balu ona.Don't wait for each other. When you see what needs to be done, start on some of it.
• Ha'u la hatene. Husu to'ok Pedro.I don’t know. Try asking Pedro.