During lent, the entrance hymn shouldn’t be too lively, because lent is a time of sadness. in Tetun
Iha tempu kuarezma hananu entrada nian la bele moris liu, tanba kuarezma ne'e tempu triste nian.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Possession
nia / nian — possession
nian'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.
Comparison
liu — comparison 'more / most'
liuTetun comparison uses 'X liu Y' not 'mais X' — the adjective stays put and 'liu' follows. With a focus 'mak' it becomes superlative. Avoid Portuguese-style 'melhor' or 'mais boot'.
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.
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 soe ha'u nia telefone tanba se lae halimar game demais.I threw out my telephone because otherwise I'd spend too much time playing games.
- Mestre hanorin full-time ka part-time?Does the teacher teach full-time or part-time?
- Kuarezma tempu kmanek ba ita atu perdua malu.Lent is an excellent time for forgiving one another.
- Ha'u nia apá kapitaun militár iha tempu Portugés.My dad was a military captain during Portuguese time.
- Modo ne'e meer loos tanba Nina tau masin barak liu.The vegetables are very salty because Nina put in too much salt.
- Bá fanu lalais Anoo, tanba besik ona tempu atu bá eskola.Go quickly and wake Anoo, because it’s almost time to go to school.