Ester is heavily pregnant. It won’t be long before she gives birth. in Tetun
Mana Ester isin rua todan, la kleur tan nia bele tuur ahi.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
Possibility & probability
bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility
beleTetun 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.
Related phrases
- Mana Ester isin rua hela, ne'ebé nia la bele kaer servisu todan.Ester is pregnant, so she can’t do heavy work.
- Mai sedu, é!Come early, won't you.
- Iha ne'e ai mesak naru-naruk de'it.Here all the logs are long.
- Sira nia ekipa manán kuatru - zero.Their team won four - zero.
- Haas ne'ebá fuan tebar loos.That mango tree is heavily laden.
- Ami nia asu hahoris asu oan haat.Our dog gave birth to four puppies.