Good grief! Why didn't he come! in Tetun
Pora! Nusaa mak ohin nia la mai?!
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'.
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.
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
- Ohin Maria la mai servisu. Dala ruma nia moras.Today Maria didn’t come to work. Perhaps she is sick.
- Feto karak-teen hola loos mane ida di'ak hanesan Melki ne'e!How come a greedy woman ends up marrying a good man like Melki!
- Atu simu osan, tama ida-ida; la bele tama hamutuk.To receive (your) money, come in one at a time; you can’t come in together.
- Hori ohin ha'u hein ita iha kampus maibé la mai lalais, entaun ha'u fila fali ba uma.Earlier today I waited for you on campus, but you didn’t come quickly, so I went back home.
- Patraun nia skil komunikasaun ho bisnis nian ladún di'ak, entaun nia planu la la'o ba oin.The boss' communication and business skills aren't very good, so his plans didn't eventuate.
- Ha'u la bá ida!I didn't go!